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BEY.  SAMUEL  BACKUS, 

\\ 

OJ1  BKOOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


"  For  where  two  or  thrfee  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there 
sin  I  in  the  midst  of  them."—  Matt.  18  :  20. 


NEW-YOEK 

Jtiblished  by  A.  S.  BARNES  &  Co.,  51 
1852. 


THE  PRAYER-MEETING 


.       CHAPTER  I. 

Its  Value* 

To  all  who  love  to  meet  and  together  say, 
"Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven"  one  who 
has  lived  and  labored  longer  than  most  of  you, 
comes  with  words  of  friendly  salutation.  He 
desires  earnestly  and  affectionately  to  address 
you  on  the  subject  of  Prayer-Meetings. 

Prayer  is  as  old  as  religion,  and  yet  social 
meetings  expressly  for  prayer,  are  of  compara- 
tively recent  date,  unless  we  go  back  to  the 
early  days  of  the  Christian  church.  Many 
can  remember  when  "  prayer-meetings."  as  the 
term  is  now  understood,  were  unknown. 

But  though  so  recent  in  their  origin,  they 
have  by  common  consent  come  to  be  esteemed 
essential.  They  have  not  inappropriately 


been  tei'ttiec!  "  the  spiritual  barometer  of  the 
churches."  As  is  the  prayer-meeting  in  any 
church,  so  do  we  expect  to  find  the  sp:ritual 
state  of  that  church,  nor  can  it  be  otherwise* 

Religion  is  not  a  dormant,  inert  principle^ 
like  latent  heat  in  physical  bodies,  waiting 
some  new  agency  to  give  it  development  and 
life,  but  it  is  in  its  nature  intrinsically  active ; 
it  is  a  power  #t  work ;  it  is  the  love  of  God 
carried  out  in  its  appropriate  results.  Relig- 
ion being  a  great  common  interest,.. it  will  fol- 
low that,  as  this  interest  is  prized,  the  differ- 
ent parties  concerned  will  come  together  and 
seek  its  advancement ;  and  inasmuch  as  the 
interests  of  religion  are  inseparably  blended 
with  prayer,  Christians  can  hardly  do  other- 
Wise  than  meet  and  pray. 

Well  may  we  believe,  therefore,  that  where 
the  prayer-meeting  is  fully  attended  by  the 
brethren  and  sisters,  and  solemn  in  its  aspects^ 
there  will  everything  pertaining  to  religion 
flourish,  <md  that  these  meetings  can  be  cold5 
and  neglected  and  formal,  only  when  the  spirit 
and  fire  and  activity  of  religion  have  departed* 
A  glance  at  the  dead>  cold  prayer-meeting5 
tells  us  unmistakably  that  there  is  the  form  of 
godliness  without  the  power,  that  the  things  of 
the  world  are  uppermost,  that  the  flesh  rules 
rather  than  the  spirit.  There  we  expect  to 


hear  dull  and  pointless  preaching  addressed  to 
cold  and  lifeless  hearers.  In  such  a  case,  to 
hear  of  an  awakened  or  converted  sinner, 
sounds  like  thunder  from  a  clear  sky. 

We  in  this  day  should  about  as  soon  think 
of  dispensing  with  the  ministry  itself,  as  of 
withholding  from  it  the  aid  derived  from  the 
prayer-meeting. 

Blessed  place!  Blessed  employment!  how 
readily  does  every  warm-hearted  Christian  say? 

"  I  have  been  there,  and  still  would  go, 
'Tis  like  a  little  heaven  below." 

This  unassuming  means  of  grace,  from  the 
small  beginnings  of  fifty  years  ago,  has  won 
its  way  to  favor  unrivalled. 

We  have  here  the  prime  motive*  power, 
which,  impelled  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  drives 
all  the  divine  machinery  of  the  Gospel. 

And  yet  the  real  value  of  this  agency  has 
hardly  begun  to  be  appreciated.  In  its  work- 
ings hitherto,  such  an  advancement  on  the 
past  has  been  realized,  that  we  have  hardly 
thought  of  future  improvements.  We  have 
said,  "  It  is  good,  very  good,"  and  have  thought 
of  nothing  better. 

We  have  taken  the  prayer-meeting  as  we 
would  some  newly  discovered  plant  or  fruit  in 
its  native  wildness,  good  and  wholesome  as  we 
have  it  now,  and  which  we  therefore  think  not 


6 

of  improving  by  culture.  Or  we  have  taken 
it  like  some  useful  and  newly  invented  ma- 
chine in  its  first  clumsy  construction.  We  ex- 
ult in  its  utility,  without  the  least  imaginings 
of  what  ingenious  heads,  and  skilful  hands  are 
yet  to  make  it. 

When  first  we  could  travel  ten  miles  an 
hour  by  steamboat  or  rail  car,  we  supposed  the 
limits  of  locomotion  attained,  and  we  had  no 
wish  to  travel  faster ;  now  we  move  fiity  miles 
an  hour,  and  complain  of  tardiness.  Such  do 
we  believe  will  be  the  case  in  the  progressive 
power  of  prayer  in  its  future  developments, 
especially  of  prayer  in  the  social  meeting,  to 
that  end  purposely  convened.  What  know  we 
yet  of  the  achievements  which  can  be  made 
by  those  who  are  uall  of  one  accord  in  one 
place,"  as  were  the  disciples  at  the  day  of 
Pentecost  ? 

That  memorable  event  was  prefaced  with  a 
long  prayer-meeting,  wonderful  in  itself,  won- 
derful in  its  results.  We  think  of  three  thou- 
sand souls  added  to  the  Lord  in  one  day,  and 
we  say,  "  Was  there  ever  the  like  before,  and 
shall  there  ever  be  the  like  again?"  But  greater 
things  than  these  are  before  us.  The  time 
cometh  when  in  one  day,  not  three  thousand 
souls  shall  be  added  to  the  Lord,  but  a  whole 
nation.  No  means  essentially  new  will  be  em- 


ployed,  but  these  wonders  of  grace  are  to  be 
brought  about  by  a  better  use  of  those  already 
prescribed  and  used;  and  in  no  department 
of  Christian  effort,  have  we  reason  to  look  for 
greater  improvement,  than  in  using  the  power 
of  prayer,  as  an  agency  for  carrying  forward 
the  work  of  God.  In  no  other  department  do 
we  so  fully  perceive  the  pertinency  of  the  di- 
vine precept,  "Put  on  thy  strength  oh  Zion, 
put  on  thy  beautiful  garments,  oh  J  erusalem !" 

Oh  this  putting  on~of  Zion's  strength !  It  is 
the  strength  of  God,  though  wielded  by  man. 
Is  it  not  a  consummation  most  devoutly  to  be 
wished  ?  If  my  readers  do  not  follow  me  with 
patience  and  delight  through  the  subsequent 
pages,  it  will  not  be  for  want  of  a  worthy 
theme. 

There  are  many  reasons  why  this  tract  may 
fail  of  great  success,  but  no  new  and  untested 
theories  are  here  divulged ;  none  are  called 
upon  to  experiment  in  unexplored  fields  of  re- 
search. 

The  views  advanced  are  believed  to  be 
scriptural,  and  sustained  also  by  successful  ex- 
periment. They  have  been  formed  from  a 
long  course  of  careful  study  and  observation  on 
the  nature  and  uses  of  social  prayer.  They 
are  believed  to  be  simple  and  practical. 

The  writer  has  mingled  familiarly  in  pray er- 

• 

^a  TtT  1* T*  *^T T  Y! 

•    •   • 


8 

meetings  for  almost  forty  years,  lie  has  seen 
them  in  all  their  different  phases,  and  atten- 
tively marked  their  influences ;  and  strange 
would  it  be,  if  with  all  these  advantages,  he 
should  be  able  to  point  out  no  common  defects, 
or  to  suggest  no  needed  improvements.  Hav- 
ing lived  and  labored  in  a  day  of  wonderful 
revivals,  having  seen  Missions,  and  Tract  So- 
cieties, and  Sabbath  Schools,  progressing  from 
their  incipiency  to  their  present  state,  he  may 
at  least  claim  some  credit  as  a  witness  of  facts. 

It  may  be  proper  here  that  I  forewarn  my 
readers  of  my  purpose  to  pass  by  all  prayer, 
but  that  of  the  social  meeting. 

You  will  not  expect,  therefore,  anything  on 
that  all-important  subject,  "  Closet  Devotion." 
I  leave  every  man  undisturbed  in  his  sacred 
retirement  whither  he  has  gone,  uto  shut  his 
doors  about  him,  that  he  may  pray  to  his  Fa- 
ther who  is  in  secret."  I  do  this  with  the  less 
regret  because,  except  in  the  article  of  mere 
neglect,  there  is  less  danger  of  wrong  perform- 
ance of  secret  prayer  than  of  any  other. 

Neither  do  I  intrude  upon  the  family,  as 
they  are  gathered  around  their  fireside  altar, 
to  confess  their  common  sins,  to  give  thanks 
for  their  common  mercies,  and  to  ask  a  supply 
for  their  common  wants. 

Undisturbed   by  me,   they   may  sing  their 


9 

family  hymn,  read  their  family  Bible,  and  offer 
their  night  and  morning  prayer,  in  their  own 
way. 

And  least  of  all  would  I  abridge  the  liberties 
of  the  pastor,  as  he  leads  the  devotions  of  his 
flock.  He  may  preach  his  own  sermon,  and 
offer  his  own  prayers,  so  that  he  do  it  to  edifi- 
cation, and  I  will  find  no  fault  with  him. 

'  Eespecting  these  omitted  occasions  of  prayer, 
there  are  specific  human  helps,  and  better 
helps  might  undoubtedly  be  provided,  and  to 
these  w^e  leave  all  those  who  may  need  them. 
Our  business  is  with  the  all-important,  the  be- 
loved social  prayer. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Dignity  of  the  Subject. 

THE  subject  thus  announced,  is  worthy  of 
the  highest  powers  of  rhetoric  and  of  argu- 
ment. The  largest  talent,  and  piety  of  the 
highest  tone,  might  well  be  employed  in  carry- 
ing out  our  design.  The  Prayer-Meeting,  hum- 
ble and  unpretending  as  it  is,  casts  into  shade 
all  that  earth  calls  great.  Conquerors  die,  ar- 
mies vanish,  revolutions  roll  on  like  wave  fol- 


10 

lowing  wave,  and  yet  the  general  features  of 
the  world  undergo  no  change. 

The  energies  of  statesmanship  and  military 
prowess  may  disturb  the  world,  but  they  never 
reform  it.  Not  so  the  moral  enginery  whose 
motive  power  is  in  heaven ;  a  power  wielded 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  gained  by  prayer. 

He  wrho  can  open  a  wider  pathway  to  the 
Throne  of  Divine  Grace,  and  draw  down  from 
thence  a  larger  stream  of  influence  to  vivify 
and  warm  the  dead,  cold  things  of  earth,  has 
begun  a  process  which  earth,  and  heaven,  and 
vast  eternity  shall  feel.  He  who  truly  prays, 
has  power  with  God,  and  wields  an  almighty 
arm. 

Who  then  can  estimate  the  power  of  believ- 
ing, united  prayer  ? 

Strange  now  as  it  may  seem,  even  on  such  a 
subject,  and  where  everything  has  been  consid- 
ered settled  for  centuries,  I  feel  like  a  pioneer, 
threading  my  way,  where  no  one  has  opened  a 
path  before  me.  I  will  not  say  that  nothing 
has  been  written  expressly  as  a  guide  and  in- 
structor in  the  performance  of  social  prayer, 
for  it  is  no  strange  thing  that  a  book  should  be 
born,  and  sleep,"and  die,  and  never  be  known 
beyond  the  precincts  of  its'  own  covers,  but  if 
ever  there  had  been  written  a  good  directory 
for  this  end,  it  never  would  have  been  forgot- 


11 

ten.  Like  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and 
Watt's  sacred  poetry,  it  would  have  been  a 
book  for  the  world.  That  such  will  be  the  des- 
tiny of  the  present  treatise,  I  am  not  vain 
enough  to  suppose ;  but  where  a  work  is  so 
much  needed,  and  where  others  have  done  no- 
thing, I  shall  not  be  blamed  for  doing  what  I 
can  to  meet  the  want,  leaving  it  for  abler  hands 
to  complete  what  I  but  begin. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

Some  Things  Common  to  All  Prayer. 

THEKE  are  things  essential  and  common  to 
all  forms  and  occasions  of  prayer ;  and  unless 
these  be  understood,  all  rules,  and  directions, 
and  enforcements  of  prayer  in  any  particuar 
aspect  of  it,  must  be  of  little  use.  We  may, 
indeed,  take  it  for  granted,  that  these  things 
are  already  familiar  to  all  my  readers,  and  this 
is  probably  to  a  considerable  extent  true ;  yet, 
in  a  treatise  like  this,  these  points  cannot  well 
be  passed  over. 

The  duty  and  use  of  prayer  are  common  top- 
ics, and  as  abstract  truths,  there  can  be  no 
need  of  proving  them ;  and  yet  on  these  points, 


12 

apparently  so  plain,  a  few  thoughts  may  not  be 
amiss. 

All  know  that  to  us,  there  are  needed  things, 
which  if  coming  at  all,  must  come  as  the  gift 
of  God.  Again,  if  God  is  to  bestow  upon  us 
these  gifts,  He  must  do  it  either  as  asked  or  un- 
asked ;  i.e.,  we  must  pray  for  then?,  or  receive 
them  without  prayer.  Some  of  these  blessings 
God  may  indeed  give,  and  does  give,  whether 
we  pray  for  them  or  not.  For  it  is  written,  "  He 
maketh  His  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil  and  on 
the  good,  and  sendeth  his  rain  on  the  just 
and  on  the  unjust."  This  we  see  and  know, 
in  attestation  of  the  goodness  of  God.  The 
saint,  that  walks  with  God  from  day  to  day, 
and  the  most  thankless  wretch  that  sees  the 
light,  are  in  this  alike.  The  morning  sunshine 
falls  as  benignly  upon  the  one  as  upon  the  other. 
Their  fields  lie  side  by  side,  and  with  equal  til- 
lage, grow  with  equal  luxuriance. 

When  the  earth  has  been  for  weeks  parched 
under  a  summer  sun,  and  vegetation  looks 
drooping  and  sickly,  the  timely  and  looked-for 
shower  refreshes  the  fields  and  purifies  the  air 
for  the  wicked  man,  as  much  as  for  the  good. 

But  even  in  things  the  most  fixed  by  the  uni- 
form laws  of  Providence,  the  witholding  of 
filial  trust,  -and  grateful  praise,  as  all  the 
prayerless  do,  cannot  but  be  displeasing  to  the 


e 


13 

great  Dispenser  of  good.  Nor  of  the  most 
common  blessings  of  life,  do  we  know  how 
many  are  gained  in  answer  to  prayer.  The 
laws  of  Providence  in  nature,  have  a  guiding 
hand,  and  that  hand  is  moved  by  prayer  ;  and 
who  is  competent  to  say,  that  were  it  not  for 
the  praying  ones  on  the  earth,  the  wheels  of 
nature  would  stop  in  their  course  and  instant 
destruction  ensue  ? 

Ten  praying  men  could  have  averted  from 
Sodom  the  fiery  shower,  and  for  one  prophet, 
the  laws  of  gravitation  were  counteracted,  and 
the  waters  of  Jordon  were  parted.  What  then 
may  not  God  do,  for  the  sake  of  ten  thousand 
times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands, 
who  cry  day  and  night  before  him  ? 

The  same  event  happening  to  all  alike,  by 
no  means  secures  to  all  an  equal  good. 

The  same  wind  which  bears  one  vessel  rap- 
idly and  safely  to  its  destined  haven,  may  dash 
another  upon  hidden  rocks.  The  balmy  breath 
of  evening  may  invigorate  and  refresh  one 
constitution,  and  at  the  same  time  germinate 
the  seeds  of  death  in  another. 

But  in  reference  to  the  inner  man,  the  di- 
verse influences  of  the  same  apparent  cause 
are  the  most  striking.  To  the  pious  soul,  the 
sunshine,  and  the  flowers,  and  the  ten  thousand 
charms  of  nature,  are  but  so  many  conductors 


14 

between  heaven  find  earth,  bearing  upward 
holy  aspirations  to  the  throne  of  God,  and 
downward  from  that  throne  those  movings  of 
the  Spirit  which  cause  God's  children  to  rejoice, 
with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  How 
sublimely  and  how  blessedly  does  the  spiritual, 
praying  man  say,  as  he  looks  upward  in  the 
starry  night,  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God,^  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handy 
work,  day  unto  day  utter eth  speech,  and  night 
unto  night  shewetli  knowledge !"  The  garden, 
the  orchard,  the  green  fields,  the  extended 
landscape,  the  river,  the  ocean,  are  so  many 
treasures  of  delight  to  the  devout ;  and  the  rich 
and  the  poor  share  the  inheritance  alike. 

And  yet,  to  the  ungodly  and  the  prayerless, 
these  things  are  valueless.  An  unholy  and 
unconfiding  frame  of  mind,  may  strip  nature 
of  all  her  loveliness.  It  may  turn  the  very 
sunshine  into  darkness,  and  make  the  flowers 
sickening.  The  sweet,  soft  music  of  the  birds 
and  the  bees,  may  scathe  the  soul,  and  good  it- 
self may  become  hateful ;  and  to  see  God  in 
these  things  may  be  the  climax  of  horror. 
Such,  we  apprehend,  are  some  of  the  elements 
of  the  worm  and  the  fire,  as  they  begin  to  gnaw 
and  to  burn,  on  this  side  the  grave. 

But  the  minds  even  of  the  wicked  are  not 
always  in  this  state.  Though  they  neither  love 


15 

nor  fear  God,  they  may  for  a  season  rejoice  in 
his  works.  He  who  has  spread  out  so  many 
beauties  before  them,  has  also  given  them  taste 
to  perceive  and  relish  these  beauties  ;  nor  is  this 
taste  necessarily  destroyed  by  sin.  The  prayer- 
less  and  the  praiseless  may  have  tastes  highly 
refined,  and  intellects  highly  cultivated,  ana  by 
them  the  beauties  of  nature  may  be  fully  per- 
ceived and  delighted  in.  But  then  these  things 
lure  the  heart  away  from  God,  and  to  the  grace- 
less become  so  many  links  in  a  chain  by  which 
Satan  binds  his  victims. 

This  chain  may  seem  to  be  made  of  gold, 
and  wreathed  with  flowers  ;  it  may  appear  at 
first  weak,  and  its  action  may  be  all  but  imper- 
ceptible ;  but  it  is  continually  thickening  and 
hardening  in  its  progress,  becoming  at  length 
a  chain  of  heated  iron,  burning  and  scathing 
the  ungodly  sufferer,  soon  to  be  riveted  by 
devils  to  some  fixture  in  their  dark  abode. 
Such  may  be  the  ultimate  difference  between 
praying  and  being  prayerless. 

These  are  indeed  dreadful  thoughts,  but 
dreadful  only  because  they  are  true. 

Thus,  then,  is  it  shown,  that  in  thiiigs  winch 
seem  the  most  uniform  and  fixed,  there  is  a  use, 
and  a  beauty  in  prayer. 


16 

THINGS  COMMON  TO  PKAYER,  CONTINUED. 
Spiritual  Blessings. 

WE  have  been  considering  prayer  in  refer- 
ence to  the  procurement  and  value  of  earthly 
things.  But  its  greatest  value  is  still  unper- 
ceived.  There  is  another  and  higher  depart- 
ment of  the  divine  administration,  where 
prayer  is  everything.  In  the  department  of 
spiritualities  it  is  especially  true,  that  he  who 
asketh  receiveth,  and  only  he.  Here  all  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  word,  "The  gift  of  the  Spirit." 
The  Spirit,  indeed,  is  no  substitute  for  the 
moral  actings  of  the  human  soul,  but  it  is  that 
which  guides  and  models  those  actings,  in  all 
which  is  befitting  our  high  relations  to  God. 
This  Spirit,  with  all  its  tlessed  fruits,  in  the 
plain  language  of  the  Bible,  "  God  giveth  to 
them  that  ask  him."  This  explicit  language 
is  enough.  Here  our  faith  should  rest,  without 
waiting  for  more  specific  reasons  to  fix  our 
trust. 

Here  it  is,  that  in  the  divine  plan,  God  giv- 
eth not  account  of  any  of  his  matters  before  he 
bids  us  believe  and  obey. 

This  Holy  Spirit  God  is  ready,  exceedingly 
ready,  to  give  to  those  that  ask  him ;  but  no- 
where that  I  know  of,  has  he  told  us  that  he 
bestows  it  otherwise. 


ir 

Indeed,  in  speaking  of  the  new  heart  as  the 
promised  gift  of  the  Spirit,  he  says,  "  For  this 
will  I  be  enquired  of  by  the  house  of  Israel, 
to  do  it  for  them." 

In  saying  all  this,  I  am  not  forgetful  that 
the  Spirit  is  often  given,  not"  only  to  those  who 
ask  not  his  visitations,  but  even  to  those  who 
stoutly  fight  against  him  ;  though  I  have  yet 
to  learn  that  this  heavenly  benefaction  may  not, 
in  all  instances,  be  bestowed  in  answer  to  the 
prayers  of  some  one  or  more  of  God's  believ- 
ing children. 

Nor  can  we  tell  where  these  strivings  would 
stop,  were  it  not  for  the  stintedness,  and  fickle- 
ness, and  other  unholy  mixtures,  which  are 
found  in  the  prayers  of  the  saints. 
,  There  are,  in  every  Christian  community,  a 
few  who  are  reputed  eminent  for  prayer  and 
piety ;  and,  to  those  observant  of  such  things, 
it  has  always  seemed  that  if  these  few  emi- 
nently pious  Christians,  should  stop  praying, 
religion  would  die  out. 

And  if  this  be  so,  it  is  as  plain  on  the  other 
hand,  that  if  all  Christians  would  watch  and 
pray,  as  these  few  do  watch  and  pray,  the 
world  would  soon  be  converted  to  Christ. 


18 

THINGS  COMMON  TO  PRAYER,  CONTINUED. 

The  Purposes  of  God. 
i 

WE  can  hardly  think  of  praying  to  God  in 
any  form,  without  at  the  same  time  thinking 
of  Him  as  planning,  and  counselling,  and  pur- 
posing, the  things  he  is  to  do.  We  are,  of  ne- 
cessity, brought  to  consider  prayer  as  connected 
with  the  eternal  and  unchangeable  purposes  of 

We  are  in  a  measure  driven  to  this  course, 
not  merely  by  the  sneers  and  cavils  of  the  in- 
fidel, for  his  sneers  and  cavils,  and  even  his 
arguments,  are  comparatively  harmless  things 
as  used  against  the  duty  and  prevalence  of 
prayer ;  bnt  we  often  find  the  honest  and  sim- 
ple-minded stumbled  and  perplexed  writh  the 
suggestion,  that  because  God  is  unchangeable, 
therefore  prayer  must  be  unavailing.  ^  These 
misgivings  are  always  painful,  and  may  be 
highly  dangerous. 

Such  minds  should  therefore,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, be  relieved  and  rightly  guided. 

Now  it  is  evidently  useless  lor  us,  if  we  were 
so  disposed,  to  deny  that  God  has  formed  a 
decree  or  eternal  purpose,  according  to  which 
he  gives  his  Spirit,  and  also  performs  all  his 
other  works.  God  "  discerneth  the  end  from 
the  beginning,  and  from  ancient  time  the  thing 


19 

that  is  not  yet  done,  saying  "  my  counsel  shall 
stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure." 

This  is  matter  of  rejoicing,  for  God  alone  is 
competent  to  judge  rightly  what  he  shall  do. 

We  ought  not  to  indulge  even  the  most  se- 
cret wish,  that  he  should  in  anything  act  oth- 
erwise than  according  to  his  own  determinate 
counsel  and  foreknowledge  ;  nor  should  we 
have  any  dread  of  looking  such  a  doctrine  fully 
in  the  face,  whatever  may  be  the  point  of  duty, 
or  privilege,  which  we  may  wish  to  investigate. 

Secret  things  we  know  belong  unto  the  Lord, 
and  to  whom  else  should  they  belong  ?  And 
with  the  Lord,  as  secret  things,  we  ought  most 
cheerfully  to  leave  them.  But  then  all  things 
pertaining  to  God  and  his  works  are  not  se- 
cret ;  many  glorious  truths  of  this  sort  are  re- 
vealed, and  these  belong  to  us  and  our  children 
forever.  To  take  the  things  that  are  revealed, 
and  to  leave  in  their  own  original  secresy 
things  not  revealed,  is  infinitely  better  than 
making  efforts  to  bend  our  views  into  a  sup- 
posed consistency  with  human  theories  and 
formularies,  absurdly  enough  called  STANDARDS. 
We  have  no  standard  of  Christian  doctrine 
but  God's  own  word,  legitimately  and  properly 
interpreted.  From  what  God  has  done,  and 
from  what  he  has  caused  to  be  written,  there 


are  many  things  which  we  can  know,  and 
which  we  ought  to  know.- 

"We  know  that  he  has  given,  and  therefore 
from  the  beginning  has  purposed  to  give,  every 
department  of  this  universe  over  which  he 
reigns,  its  own  appropriate  laws,  according  to 
its  own  intrinsic  nature.  We  know  that  God 
has  made  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  that  they 
are  most  wonderfully  governed ;  but  yet  not 
by  the  laws  of  animal  life,  or  by  moral  precepts 
sanctioned  by  pains  and  penalties.  Animals, 
as  animals,  are  governed  not  by  the  laws  of 
vegetation,  but  by  the  proper  laws  of  animal 
life,  just  referred  to.  To  man,  and  other  beings 
endowed  with  a  moral  nature,  God  has  given 
a  moral  law,  adapted  to  this  moral  nature,  and 
by  this  law  he  will  govern  them. 

God's  laws  are  permanent  in  their  character, 
so  that  having  once  enacted  them  he  never 
repeals  them ;  and  according  to  them  all  his 
plans  and  purposes  will  be  carried  out.  In 
conformity  with  its  own  appropriate  laws,  each 
department  of  his  government  will  be  admin- 
istered. 

It  follows  that  in  dealing  with  moral  beings, 
God  will  ever  act  in  conformity  with  that  de- 
cree, which  secures  to  them  full  and  perpetual 
possession  of  all  the  powers  and  prerogatives 
of  moral  agency,  in  subordination  to  moral 


21 

law.  We  may  rest  assured,  that  God  as  a 
moral  rnler  will  never  act  upon  our  race  other- 
wise than  as  upon  beings  endowed  with  the 
capacity  of  choosing  and  acting  for  themselves. 

The  purposes  of  God  are  so  far  from  in- 
terfering with  the  freedom  of  intelligent  inter- 
course between  him  and  his  creatures,  that 
they  include  in  their  very  nature  the  confirma- 
tion of  freedom  in  moral  acts.  As  a  conse- 
quence, they  must  also  include  all  the  appro- 
priate contingencies  of  efforts  and  results,  be- 
longing to  those  acts. 

By  this  process,  we  come  to  the  great  point 
at  issue,  viz :  that  among  such  contingencies, 
PKAYEK  holds  a  pre-eminent  distinction.  God, 
then,  having  firmly  decreed  that  some  of  his 
creatures  shall  be  and  remain  forever  endowed 
with  the  power  of  asking,  and  the  promise  of 
receiving,  it  must  be  with  an  ill  grace  that  we 
bring  up  the  purposes  of  God,  as  an  objection 
to  the  utility  of  prayer. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Manner  of  Approaching  God  in  Prayer. 
It  being  once  decided  on  general  principles. 


22 

that  prayer  is  suited  to  our  condition,  as  the 
rational  creatures  of  God,  and  that  by  this  and 
other  acts  of  worship  we  ought  to  approach  him, 
the  manner  of  this  approach  becomes  a  theme 
of  immense  magnitude.  We  have,  as  fixed 
principles,  that  everything  is  depending  on  the 
blessing  of  God,  and  that  this  blessing  is  to  be 
obtained  by  prayer ;  and  in  view  of  these  prin- 
ciples, we  instinctively  feel  that  a  more  mo- 
mentous theme  can  scarcely  be  presented  to 
our  minds5  than  the  manner  of  our  approach. 
Everything  is  depending  on  the  blessing  of 
God,  that  blessing  is  to  be  obtained  by  prayer, 
and  with  all  solicitude  we  ask,  "How  shall 
we  pray,  so  that  our  prayers  shall  be  favorably 
answered?  How  shall  the  largest,  richest 
blessing,  be  obtained?  How  shall  we  best 
please  God,  in  drawing  near  to  him  ? 

To  answer  these  enquiries,  and  gain  these 
ends,  is  the  design  of  the  present  essay,  in  so 
far  as  seasons  of  special  social  prayer  are  con- 
cerned. 

As  in  every  other  undertaking,  so  in  this,  a 
first  requisite  is  to  fix  definitely  in  the  mind 
the  object  aimed  at. 

"We  never  ought  to  appoint  or  to  attend  a 
prayer-meeting,  without  having  before  us  some 
desired  and  expected  result,  which  can  be  con- 
ceived of  in  thought,  and  expressed  in  words. 


23 

Otherwise,  any  good  that  may  be  gained 
can  be  nothing  more  than  what  is  called  a 
"  lucky  accident ;"  a  thing  of  rare  occurrence, 
and  never  to  be  trusted.  The  more  general 
and  undefined  idea  of  worshipping  God,  or 
gaining  some  nameless  good,  to  our  bodies  or 
souls,  is  not  enough.  This  is  to  act  without 
an  object.  That  a  meeting  for  worship  maybe 
profitable,  we  must  understand  what  worship 
we  mean  to  pay,  and  what  blessing  we  expect 
to  receive.  Mere  reasoning  about  what  may 
be  right  and  proper  to  say  to  God  is  not  enough. 
We  should  come,  not  with  the  product  of  pert 
reasonings,  but  with  the  deep  feelings  of  a 
burdened  soul ;  with  the  pouring  out  of  the 
heart,  rather  than  the  dry  cogitations  of  the 
head. 

The  work  of  preparation  is  evidently  of 
great  account,  and  in  this,  it  will  be  profitable  to 
give  a  very  large  place  to  those  thoughts  which 
seem  spontaneously  to  press  and  fasten  on  the 
mind. 

A  recurrence  to  our  own  experience  will  in- 
form us,  that  there  are  from  time  to  time, 
themes  that  hover  around  us,  and  court  our 
attention,  which  quicken  into  action  our  mem- 
ories, which  excite  our  hopes  and  our  fears. 
These  are  things  which  the  more  tenaciously 
cling  to  us,  the  more  we  strive  to  expel  them. 


24: 

These  are  for  the  time  being,  the  actings 
and  speakings  of  the  heart.  They  are,  while 
they  last,  the  wants  and  desires  and  offerings  of 
the  soul.  They  are  in  fact  the  heart,  which  we 
should  pour  out  before  God.  These  we  should 
by  all  means  take  with  us  to  the  social  meeting. 
Vastly  better  are  they  than  the  dry  and  dusty 
creations  of  mere  thinking,  forced  into  life,  or 
rather  into  motion,  as  the  means  of  making  a 
speech,  or  gathering  expressions  for  a  prayer. 
Let  spontaniety  of  feeling  flow  in  its  own  self- 
sought  channel,  and  we  shall  not  go  empty  to 
God. 

Before  we  go  to  the  prayer-meeting  we  shall 
know  why  we  are  going,  while  we  are  there, 
we  shall  know  why  we  Iiave  come,  and  in  the 
review,  we  can  tell  where  we  have  been. 

Nor  let  it  be  once  imagined  that  this  using 
the  thoughts  we  have,  rather  than  trying  to  en- 
gender those  we  have  not,  is  to  neglect  keeping 
the  heart  with  dilligence. 

Instead  of  neglecting  the  heart,  this  is  the 
very  means  of  training  it  to  speak  out  fully 
and  freely,  in  its  own  native  dialect. 

Those  feelings  which  lie  uppermost  in  our 
minds  when  we  think  of  appearing  before  God 
are  likely  to  be  the  best,  as  the  burden  of  our 
first  approach  to  him  in  prayer ;  and  the 
thoughts  which  arise  in  view  of  meeting  our 


25 

brethren,  are  likely  to  be  the  very  things  which 
we  ought  to  talk  about  with  them,  for  mutual 
edification.  Do  we  go  to  the  prayer-meeting 
pressed  with  a  sense  of  guilt,  and  delinquency 
in  duty,  then  should  that  feeling  be  wrought 
into  humble  confession,  with  penitential  suppli- 
cation for  forgiveness.  Then  should  we  offer 
the  sacrifice  of  a  broken  heart.  But  if  a  sense 
of  the  goodness  of  God  in  special  mercies  re- 
ceived fill  the  mind,  then  should  we  be  pre- 
pared to  approach  the  Throne  with  songs  and 
thanksgivings.  Do  darkness  and  gloom  and 
despondency  afflict  us  ?  then  surely  we  should 
pray,  "Lord  lift  thou  up  the  light  of  thy  coun- 
tenance upon  us."  "  Is  any  among  you  af- 
flicted? let  him  pray;55  is  the  simple  and  ex- 
pressive Bible  direction.  And  again  are  we 
told,  "Confess  your  faults  one  to  another,  and 
pray  for  one  another,  that  ye  may  be  healed." 
Thus,  in  all  states  and  circumstances  of  life, 
the  thing  which  for  the  time  the  mind  feels,  is 
the  proper  theme  for  its  devotions,  whether 
that  feeling  be  personal  or  social. 

And  if,  as  will  sometimes  be  the  case,  the 
mind  be  barren  and  desolate,  seemingly  bereft 
of  all  thought,  and  all  feeling,  and  all  desire, 
then  let  so  much  of  the  man  as  is  left  to  sigh 
and  groan  and  lament  over  this  dreadful  bar- 


26 

renness  do  so,  by  saying,  "  Quicken  me,  oh 
Lord,  according  to  thy  word." 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

Individual  Preparation. 

MY  readers  will  have  observed  that,  though 
speaking  of  preparation  for  a  social  meeting, 
I  have  treated  of  those  who  are  to  join  in  it 
as  of  so  many  individuals ;  and  so,  indeed,  they 
are.  Each  one  for  himself  is  to  prepare  his 
own  mind  for  the  offering  of  prayer,  according 
to  his  condition ;  just  as  if  he  was  going  into 
his  closet,  to  pray  alone  with  God.  The  reason 
for  this  is  found  in  the  fact,  that  individuality, 
and  personality,  and  peculiarity  of  wants  and 
interests,  is  the  very  thing  by  which  to  take 
advantage  of  all  the  powers  and  perquisites  of 
our  social  nature ;  uniting  all  hearts  into  one, 
and  producing  agreement  in  all  that  shall  be 
asked  of  God,  or  offered  to  him.  This  very  in- 
dividuality of  desire  is  the  basis  of  social  feel- 
ing and  social  action. 

Our  idea  may  be  illustrated,  if  not  proved, 
by  the  following  considerations.  Wherever 


•r 

there  is  a  mere  joint  stock  interest,  that  of  it- 
self calls  forth  no  feeling  of  sympathy  among 
the  proprietors.  Their  interests  being  identical, 
become  thereby  purely  personal,  and  are  much 
more  frequently  the  occasion  of  strife  than  of 
friendship.  Hence  a  community  of  goods,  or 
anything  approaching  to  it,  is  destructive  of 
the  peace  of  society.  Not  so  the  mingling  of 
kind  offices,  where  the  interests  of  each  are 
distinct. 

It  is  wonderful  to  see  how  God  adapts  his 
method  of  influencing  the  human  mind  to  the 
laws  and  principles  of  that  mind ;  and  in  no- 
thing is  this  adaptation  more  striking  than  in 
the  use  he  makes  of  our  social  nature,  which 
will  be  the  theme  of  our  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Our  Social  Nature. 

It  thus  comes  to  pass,  that  no  sooner  has  the 
Christian  left  his  closet  door,  where  he  has 
been  praying  to  God  as  his  Father,  in  language 
and  thought  so  purely  his  own,  that  he  has  not 
had  even  the  outlines  prescribed  by  his  Master, 
than  he  is  met  with  a  directory  for  social 
prayer,  a  directory  adapted  to  the  very  small- 


est  number  that  can  use  the  plural  pronoun, 
and  say,  "Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven."  As 
the  prayer  in  secret  to  Him  who  seeth  in  se- 
cret, secuers  an  open  reward,  so  the  agree- 
ment in  heart  of  two  on  earth,  secures  a  social 
blessing  from  above.  "  It  shall  be  done  for 
them  by  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven" 
The  moment  the  inspirations  of  secresy  and  sol- 
itude leave  us,  the  sympathies  of  our  social 
being,  come  to  our  aid- 
But  while  this  is  so,  we  lose  not  our  individ- 
uality, but  only  leave  in  our  closets  those  things 
which  are  unsuited  to  any  ear,  and  any  heart, 
but  those  of  God.  We  leave  nothing  behind 
us  because  it  is  personal  merely.  Just  what 
we  are  when  alone,  do  we  go  to  meet  our 
brethren  in  the  chosen  place.  The  aggregate 
of  our  individual  wants,  and  feelings,  so  far  as 
these  are  proper  to  be  known  by  others,  makes 
up  the  common  stock  of  material  for  the  prayer- 
meeting  ;  and  by  the  common  laws  of  brother- 
hood, each  one  shares  his  equal  portion  of  the 
whole : 

"Our  joys,  our  fears,  onr  hopes  are  one, 
Our  comforts  and  our  cares." 

"We  bear  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil 
the  law  of  Christ." 

Now  let  us   see   how  the   social  principle 
works  when  each  apart,  according  to  the  op- 


portunity  afforded,  has  communed  with  his  own 
heart  and  with  God,  and  all  with  one  accord 
have  come  together  into  one  place.  There  are 
present,  persons  of  all  ages,  all  characters,  and 
all  conditions  of  life,  each  seeking  some  good, 
adapted  to  his  own  peculiar  wants. 

We  have  a  right  to  suppose  there  may  be  in 
the  assembly  some  new-made,  heart-stricken 
widow,  left  with  little  children,  in  deep  pov- 
erty. She  is  known,  and  beloved,  and  pitied 
by  the  whole  assembly.  It  is  known,  too,  that 
she  prizes  the  sympathies,  and  desires  the 
prayers,  of  her  Christian  friends,  and  that  she 
is  making  great  account  of  a  remembrance,  in 
the  exercises  of  the  meeting.  The  pressure 
of  her  griefs  is  so  great  that  she  knows  not 
how  to  bear  it  alone.  There  is  not  another 
case  like  her's ;  and  yet  there  is  not  one  in 
which  there  is  more  unity  of  heart. 

The  services  having  been  suitably  intro- 
duced, some  brother  brings  her  case  before 
God,  and  before  the  assembly,  in  language 
simple,  appropriate,  affecting/  Her  sorrows 
are  felt  and  uttered,  her  wants  and  those  of  her 
babes  are  feelingly  and  earnestly  spread  out 
before  the  widow's  God,  and  the  orphan's 
Father.  If  the  breathless  silence  is  inter- 
rupted, it  is  only  by  the  struggling  bosom,  un- 
able to  do  more  than  half  conceal  its  emotions. 


30 

Tell  me  now,  can  you  conceive  of  unity  more 
complete,  of  concentration  of  feeling  more  en- 
tire ?  This  one  widow's  grief  has  become,  for 
the  time,  the  grief  of  all,  as  when  one  mem- 
ber suffers,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it ;  and 
as  sure  as  there  is  prevalence  in  prayer,  the 
blessing  of  the  widow's  God  is  gained. 

There  may  be  a  case  of  a  very  diferent  de- 
scription. A  brother  may  have  received  sig- 
nal blessings,  and  feel  that  to  praise  God  alone, 
is  not  enough.  He  wishes  to  call  upon  his 
brethren  and  sisters,  saying,  "  Magnify  the 
Lord  with  me,  and  let  us  exalt  His  name  to- 
gether." His  call  for  praise  is  cheerfully  re- 
sponded to,  and  united  thanksgiving  is  ren- 
dered in  his  behalf.  Do  you  not  hear  an  hun- 
dred hearts  in  perfect  unison,  beating  with  new 
pulsations  of  delight?  If  the  joy  be  the  joy 
of  one,  the  praise  is  the  praise  of  all.  It  is 
the  very  genius  of  the  gospel,  that  it  makes 
the  feelings  of  one  soul  the  common  property 
of  many  souls.  It  is  in  this  way  that  heart  is 
drawn  to  heart,  and  all  hearts  are  welded  as 
it  were  into  one,  by  the  common  attraction  of 
a  Christian  love. 

There  may  be  other  cases,  differing  from 
either  of  the  preceding.  There  may  be  one 
who  has  had  great  enlargement  in  the  things 
of  God,  and  he  desires  to  see  the  blessing  ex- 


31 

tended ;  or  there  may  be  another  who  is  labor- 
ing under  great  spiritual  darkness,  and  feels 
that  God  has  shut  up  his  tender  mercies  from 
him.  Such  cases  specified,  touch  every  soul ; 
they  draw  out  all  hearts  in  united  prayer. 

There  may  be  a  brother  who  has  grievously 
sinned,  and  who  wishes  as  a  privilege  the  op- 
portunity of  making  confession  and  asking  for- 
giveness. Again  the  social  feelings  are  in  full 
play,  and  all  will  hasten  to  "restore  such  an 
one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,"  feeling  that  no- 
thing but  the  grace  of  God  has  kept  them  from 
the  same  condemnation. 

There  may  be,  there  have  been,  prayer- 
meetings  in  which  were  present  those  who 
were  by  the  Spirit  smitten  down  with  a  sense 
of  sin,  and  who  were  crying  out  in  bitterness  of 
soul,  "What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ?"  while 
others  were  saying,  "  Rejoice  with  us,  for  we 
h.ave  found  the  precious  Saviour." 

Do  you  want  anything  of  more  general  in- 
terest? can  you  think  of  anything  in  which 
there  will  be  more  entire  agreement?  Souls 
flow  and  unite  together,  as  drops  of  water  meet 
and  mingle  at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel. 

I  have  specified  a  few  out  of  a  great  multitude 
of  supposable  cases,  to  show  the  workings  of  our 
social  nature,  in  making  individual  wants  and 
interests  the  very  basis  of  unity  in  divine  wor- 


32 

ship.  While  specific  causes  for  prayer  and 
praise  unite  all  hearts,  mere  generalisms  leave 
them  like  particles  of  matter  floating  loosely 
about,  having  no  affinities,  drawing  them  to  a 
common  center.  Individualism,  properly  em- 
ployed, draws  all  minds  to  itself,  as  the  magnet 
attracts  chalybeate  dust. 

Inasmuch  as  God  has  made  us  social  beings, 
and  has  himself  made  so  much  use  of  our  so- 
cial nature  in  the  economy  of  his  kingdom, 
I  have  felt  impelled  to  give  these  illustrations 
of  sympathy,  as  it  may  be  made  to  act  in  be- 
half of  the  honored  prayer-meeting. 

If,  now,  to  this  consentaneousness  of  feeling 
in  regard  to  special  personal  concerns,  there  be 
added  the  common  topics  and  themes  of  inter- 
est, which,  some  or  all  of  them,  are  almost 
sure  to  be  called  up,  we  cannot  fail  of  seeing 
how  a  meeting  for  prayer  may  be  specifically 
adapted  to  every  case,  while  without  one  jar- 
ring note  all  voices  may  unite  in  joining  cho- 
rus, and  saying,  "  How  good  and  how  pleasant 
a  thing  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in 
unity." 

Thus  may  we  understand  what  it  is  for  all 
things  to  be  done  "decently  and  in  order." 
Thus  may  we  know  how  much  better  is  defi- 
niteness  and  simplicity  than  vague  and  con- 
fusedn  otions ;  how  much  better  it  is,  to  know 


33 

what  We  have  said,  what  we  are  saying,  and 
what  we  mean  to  say,  than  to  know  that  we  have 
said  something,  or  wished  to  say  something. 
We  shall  feel  it  better  to  say,  "We  have 
confessed  such  and  such  sins  to  God,  we 
have  given  him  thanks  for  such  and  such  bless- 
ings, and  we  have  earnestly  prayed  to  him 
to  do  this  and  that,"  than  to  say,  "We  have 
paid  our  respects  to  God,  and  in  a  general  and 
civil  way  have  endeavored  to  propitiate  his 
favor."  It  is  better,  and  if  we  do  as  we 
ought  we  shall  find  it  better,  at  the  close  of  a 
meeting,  to  say,  "We  have  had  our  souls 
drawn  out  in  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the 
brethren,"  than  to  say  merely^  "  We  have 
heard  such  and  such  brethren  pray."  Are  we 
aware,  dear  brethren,  how  much  account  God 
makes  of  this  unity  of  thought  and  aim  ?  Do 
we  think  how  earnestly  Christ  enjoined  this  on 
his  disciples,  and  what  large  promises  he  has 
made  to  those  who  act  it  out  ?  Especially  do 
we  realize  how  pathetically  he  prayed  to  his 
Father  for  its  bestowment,  as  he  was  perform- 
ing his  last  official  services,  while  the  agonies 
of  the  garden  and  of  the  cross  were  full  before 
him?  Hear  his  tender  accents,  "That  they  all 
may  be  one,  as  thou  Father  art  in  me,  and  I 
in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us  ;  that 
the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 


34 

me.55  God  has  given  in  the  wonders  of  his 
works  a  social  nature  to  man,  he  himself 
makes  great  account  of  it,  and  wo  to  us  if  we 
neglect  it. 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

God  to  le  Approached  with  Reverence. 

HAVING  made  up  our  inventory  of  wants  and 
wishes,  having  determined  why  we  desire  to 
come  before  God  in  social  worship,  having  our 
hearts  knit  together  in  brotherly  love,  our  next 
business  is  to  know  Him  before  "Whom  we 
come,  and  what  we  are  to  expect  at  his  hands. 
I  do  not  speak  of  the  solemn  awe  which  we 
ought  to  feel  in  approaching  God,  because  of 
his  majesty,  and  our  sinfulness,  such  as  made 
the  prophet  cry,  "  "Wo  is  me,  for  I  am  undone, 
for  1  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in 
the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips ;  for  mine 
eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts."  I 
speak  now  of  what  we  are  to  think  of  God 
in  relation  to  prayer,  what  he  thinks  of  it, 
what  we  may  expect  of  him.  In  this  partic- 
ular we  have  an  inspired  directory  for  our 
faith,  furnished  ready  to  our  hands.  "  He  that 


35 

eometh  unto  God,  must  believe  that  He  is,  and 
that  He  is  the  rewarder  of  those  that  dili- 
gently seek  him,"  It  would  seem  as  though 
a  truth  so  manifest  as  this,  must  have  been 
known  had  the  divine  word  been  silent  on  the 
subject,  and  yet  we  have  reason  to  fear  that, 
though  now  plainly  revealed,  it  is  often  forgot- 
ten. Do  we  always  pray  as  to  a  living  and 
present  God?  Do  we  always  feel  that  he 
hears  us,  and  remembers  what  we  say  to  him  ? 
Do  we  always  know  and  remember  ourselves, 
what  we  say  to  him?  When  we  have  laid 
our  requests  before  him,  do  we  always  wait 
and  expect  a  reply?  Nay,  if  God  were  to 
write  such  a  reply  in  heaven,  and  send  it  down 
by  an  angel  to  be  read  in  our  hearing,  should 
we  not,  in  expectancy  of  its  meaning,  stand  in 
doubt  of  its  purport,  and  looking  one  at  another, 
ask?  "What  can  this  response  be  about?  for 
we  expected  nothing." 

Would  it  not  puzzle  us  to  think  what  prayers 
we  had  offered,  or  for  what  we  had  given 
thanks?  Now,  brethren,  these  things  ought 
not  so  to  be. 


CHAPTEE  VIIL 

A  Present  God* 

"We  ought  always  to  pray  as  to  a  present  Godf 
lie  that  eometh  unto  God,  "MUST  BELIEVE 
THAT  HE  is."  If  this  direction  be  proper  for 
any  besides^  it  is  proper  for  us.  "We  must  have 
that  faith  in  our  prayers,  which  makes  the 
being  of  God  a  reality  to  our  minds.  We 
must  not  only  assent  to  liis  being,  as  a  truth 
proved  by  evidence  addressed  to  the  intellect^ 
but  it  must  be  a  truth  felt.  This  is  possible, 
If  there  were  no  wickedness  in  the  thing,  there 
never  was  a  more  senseless  dogma  than  one 
which  we  often  hear,  viz :  that  we  cannot  know 
there  is  a  God,  or  feel  his  presence,  because  we 
know  him  not  by  our  corporeal  senses ;  because 
we  have  never  seen  him  and  handled  him. 
This  is  to  contradict  in  the  article  of  God,  the 
sufficiency  of  evidence  which  we  freely  and 
constantly  admit  in  other  things. 

Sound  philosophy  will  teach  us  that  being, 
whether  human  or  divine,  whether  created  or 
uncreated,  is  known  only  by  its  attributes.  Of 
the  real  essence  of  being,  whether  celestial  or 
.terrestrial,  we  know  nothing.  The  shallow 
thinker  may  say,  that  he  apprehends  the  es- 
sence of  his  fellow-man  by  the  corporeal 


37 

senses  ;  but  nothing  can  be  more  false.  The 
body  which  is  felt,  is  not  the  man ;  the  voice 
which  is  heard  is  not  the  man,  and  the  same 
may  be  said  of  anything  about  him,  palpable 
to  us. 

It  is  the  idea  of  the  spiritual,  the  immaterial 
part,  which  makes  us  feel  that  a  fellow-being 
is  with  us — not  that  we  can,  even  in  this 
way,  determine  what  man's  essence  is.  We 
can  only  say,  we  perceive  such  and  such  attri- 
butes or  qualities,  indicating  to  us  the  existence 
and  presence  of  a  being  like  ourselves.  I  have 
an  instance  fresh  in  my  memory,  fully  to  my 
purpose.  I  once  saw  the  body  of  a  man  of  God, 
moving,  walking,  speaking  even,  and  yet  I 
saw  not  that  man.  I  had  been  wont  to  know 
him  as  possessed  of  a  strong  mind,  with  a 
warm  and  holy  heart,  but  now  there  was  only 
the  human  form,  whose  unchanged  appearance 
rendered  the  ruin  more  dreadful.  He  was  not 
a  maniac,  he  was  not  an  idiot ;  but  the  soul 
had  fled,  and  left  the  body  alive.  I  am  not 
agitating  any  curious  questions  about  the 
union  of  the  material  and  the  immaterial  in 
man ;  I  am  only  speaking  of  this  man  as  he 
appeared  to  me  —  a  mere  moving  body,  and 
nothing  more.  And  never  do  I  recollect  feel- 
ing so  vividly  what  it  must  be  to  dwell  in 
blank  emptiness,  as  when  closeted  with  what 
*3 


33 

seemed  so  like  my  venerated  friend.  Every 
child  knows  that  there  is  no  loneliness  more 
complete,  than  that  of  the  sepulchre,  with  its 
lifeless  inmates.  It  cannot  be  that  we  become 
conscious  of  a  present,  human  being,  by  ap- 
prehending the  material  body  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  corporeal  senses.  The  body,  as  an 
outer  garment,  serves  to  introduce  the  soul  to 
our  notice  •  but  the  man,  the  living,  thinking, 
feeling  man,  we  know,  as  far  as  we  know  him  at 
all,  by  his  own  appropriate,  spiritual  attributes. 
-  And  now,  if  we  know  man  by  his  attributes, 
as  far  as  we  know  him  at  all,  surely  we  may 
know  God,  who  is  wholly  a  spirit,  by  means 
of  His  attributes,  which  are  written  all  around 
us,  and  within  us,  and  of  which  our  own  con- 
scious existence  is  proof  demonstrative. 

I  had  thought  of  more  fully  showing  how  we 
are  continually  made  to  realize  the  axistence 
and  presence  of  being,  by  some  one  attribute  of 
such  being,  and  oftimes  by  an  attribute  seem- 
ingly least  significant,  as  a  whisper,  a  rustling 
noise,  a  shadow,  and  the  like;  but  the  single 
and  remarkable  instance  I  have  adduced,  it 
does  seem  to  me,  must  entirely  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  possibility,  showing  us  by  natural 
things,  that  God  lays  down  no  hard  conditions, 
when  he  requires  us  to  come  to  Him  believing 
that  "He  is"  There  is  no  impossibility  in  a 


39 

faith  wliicli  is  tlie  evidence  of  things  hot  seeti* 
as  well  as  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
God  Will  Hear  Prayer  and  Answer  iti 

BUT  believing  in  the  being  of  God  is  not 
enough,  unless  his  character  is  also  before  us* 
By  faith  we  must  behold  him  as  "the  re- 
warder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him." 
We  rmlst  feel,  not  only  that  we  are  speaking  to 
a  present  and  attentive  God,  but  also  that  this 
God  will  speak  to  us  in  return.  We  ought  to 
feel,  and  by  taking  pains  we  may  feel,  that  we 
are  as  truly  in  the  presence  of  God  as  of  each 
other,  that  we  speak  to  him  as  really  as  we 
speak  to  each  other  ;  and  that  if  we  seek  him 
as  wre  ought,  he  will  surely  grant  our  requests, 
But  will  God  grant  in  answer  to  our 
prayers  the  very  things  we  ask  ?  Not  always, 
for  we  may  ask  that  which  we  ought  not 
to  have.  We  may  ask  for  those  things  which 
would  injure  us.  We  do  not  suppose  God 
is  going  to  give  up  the  government  of  the 
World  to  us,  or  to  free  us  from  the  control  of 
his  providence  and  his  la,w.  But  he  must 


40 

do  this,  if  he  give  an  unconditional  affirmative 
to  every  request  which  we  may  make.  Yea, 
the  very  idea  of  faith  in  God,  implies  a  belief 
of  his  wisdom  to  choose  for  us,  as  well  as  of 
his  goodness  to  bless  us. 

We  have  nothing  on  which  to  ground  a  con- 
fidence that  God  will  grant  our  particular  re- 
quests, in  kind,  and  manner,  as  we  may  present 
them,  unless  we  can  find  some  specific  prom- 
ise that  meets  the  case,  or  have  evidence  from 
his  word,  that  our  requests  are  so  in  accord- 
ance with  his  great  designs  of  love  and  mercy 
which  he  is  carrying  forward  in  the  world, 
that  he  cannot  refuse  us. 

"We  must  remember,  moreover,  that  much  is 
implied  in  the  phrase,  "  Diligently  seek  him." 
It  is  impossible  for  us  diligently  to  seek  God 
unless  at  the  same  time,  on  our  part,  and  with 
our  best  powers,  we  lend  a  hearty  co-operation 
in  bringing  about  the  answer  to  our  prayer. 

The  man  who  rightly  prays  to  God  for  suc- 
cess in  any  labor  to  be  performed,  stands 
ready,  with  the  strength  given,  to  perform  that 
labor  himself.  He  does  not  expect  God  will 
perform  it  for  him.  This  principle  holds  good 
in  reference  to  everything  which  belongs  to  us 
as  duty. 

In  regard  to  specific  answers  to  prayers,  we 
shall,  moreover,  find  .a  wide  difference  between 


41 

temporal  and  spiritual  blessings.  In  temporal 
blessings,  there  are  no  specific  promises  given, 
and,  therefore,  no  specific  answers  are  certain ; 
while,  as  regards  spiritual  good,  the  promises 
seem  all  but  unconditional.  When  Christ  in 
the  garden  prayed  for  the  avoidance  of  bodily 
suffering,  he  added,  after  the  greatest  impor- 
tunity, "Father,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou 
wilt."  In  praying  for  spiritual  gifts,  he  makes 
no  such  condition  or  contingency,  He  says, 
without  any  proviso,  "Father,  keep  through 
thine  own  name,  those  whom  thou  hast  given 
me.55  "  Father,  I  will  that  those  whom  thou 
hast  given  me,  be  with  me  where  I  am," 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do."  And  again  appealing  to  the  fullness 
of  paternal  love  in  giving  to  children,  he  says, 
"How  much  more  shall  your  Heavenly  Father 
give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  those  who  ask  him." 
We  think  there  is  also  a  preference  given  to 
those  things  which  are  covered  directly  by  the 
atonement.  By  this  we  mean  things  to  which 
the  atonement  had  immediate  reference. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  sense  in  which  all  good  of 
every  kind  bestowed  on  man  is  through  a  Medi- 
ator. But  in  regard  to  all  common  temporal 
blessings,  this  relation  to  the  atonement  is  inci- 
dental only.  It  comes  by  the  atonement,  only 
as  the  probationary  state  of  this  world  comes  in 


42 

this  way.  We  do  not  suppose  that  Christ  died 
that  men  might  have  rain  and  sunshine,  or  civil 
privileges  here  for  a  season.  In  God's  remedial 
system  these  things  are  means,  not  the  end  it- 
self. 

But  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  the  sanctification 
of  the  heart  by  the  Spirit,  and  eternal  life  in 
heaven,  are  direct  results  of  the  atonement. 
In  reference  to  these  it  was  made,  and  only  in 
view  of  it  could  God  consistently  grant  them. 
.  When,  therefore,  Christ  says  to  his  disciples, 
"Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my 
name,  I  will  do  it,"  he  must  have  had  things 
cf  this  sort  in  view.  "In  my  name,"  must 
have  reference  to  what  Christ  has  done,  and 
must,  of  course,  be  inapplicable  to  everything 
not  depending  on  the  atonement  by  him 
effected. 

In  those  things  which  thus  are  covered  by 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  which  fall  under 
the  operation  of  the  Spirit,  we  seem  to  have 
unlimited  license  to  enlarge  and  multiply,  and 
urge,  and  repeat,  our  requests,  as  we  please. 

JEIere  again,  however,  we  do  not  know  cer- 
tainly that  even  spiritual  blessings  will  light 
down  just  where  we  wish,  and  in  the  very 
manner  we  would  prescribe,  even  on  the  sup- 
position that  our  own  frame  of  mind  is  pleas- 
ing to  God. 


43 

Some  of  God's  promises  and  plans  are 
shaped  expressly  to  the  union  of  many  hearts, 
and  many  hands,  in  gaining  a  desired  end.  In 
all  such  cases,  the  answer  must  not  be  expected 
unless  the  union  is  complete,  and  the  desire 
ardent,  and  the  number,  and  the  perseverance 
such,  that  God's  appointment  will  be  honored 
in  a  favorable  response. 

What  God  has  promised  to  secret,  or  indi- 
vidual prayer,  he  will  sacredly  fulfil,  accord- 
ing as  that  prayer  is  more  or  less  such  as  it 
should  be ;  and  there  the  promise  rests.  So, 
too,  what  God  has  promised  to  public  united 
prayer  he  will  grant  in  the  same  way.  A 
case  may  arise  in  which  the  divine  economy 
demands  that  the  circle  of  prayer  be  enlarged, 
and  that  more  hearts  be  combined,  or  that 
longer  trial  of  faith  should  be  made,  or  a  more 
public  testimony  be  given  for  God.  All  these 
things  tend  to  produce  a  degree  of  uncertainty 
in  regard  to  a  specific  answer  to  prayer,  even 
in  spiritual  things. 

Not  knowing"  fully  what  is  done,  or  what  is 
required  to  be  done,  we  cannot  know  beyond 
doubt,  whether  a  particular  blessing  will  be 
granted  at  all,  or  if  granted,  at  what  time,  and 
under  what  circumstances. 

It  may  be,  also,  that  if  prayer  be  offered  for 
an  individual,  that  individual  may  have  so 


44 

sinned,  that  prayer  for  him  will  be  forever  un- 
availing. Such  cases,  however,  make  nothing 
against  the  great  principle  that  God  will  give 
his  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him ;  and  that 
even  more  cheerfully  than  the  fondest  parent 
gives  good  things  to  a  child. 

But  whether  a  specific  spiritual  good  be 
gained  or  not,  the  holy  Spirit  cannot  be  be- 
stowed and  nobody  be  the  gainer.  He  is  a 
visitant  which  always  scatters  blessings  in  his 
train.  If  the  Spirit  be  given  in  answer  to 
your  prayers,  whether  according  to  your  wishes 
or  not,  you  will  be  a  gainer,  and  it  is  hardly 
possible  that  you  will  be  blessed  alone.  And 
let  it  be  remembered  that  the  more  widely  the 
heavenly  influence  is  diffused,  the  larger  the 
number  of  participants,  the  greater  the  bene- 
fits which  will  accrue  to  you  for  having  obtained 
the  gift  of  that  Spirit  by  your  prayers. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  "  Prayer  of 
Faith,"  and  much,  too,  to  little  purpose.  That 
there  is  such  prayer,  it  were  infidelity  to  deny ; 
and  that  it  is  what  it  has  often  been  claimed  to 
be,  it  were  folly  to  assert.  The  prayer  of  faith 
does  not  require  a  new  revelation  but  only  a  full 
belief  of  a  revelation  already  given.  The  prayer 
of  faith  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  to  pray 
aright,  in  full  confidence  that  everything  which 
God  has  said  about  prayer  in  his  word  is  true. 


45 

We  have,  as  we  think,  set  before  yon  the 
prayer  of  faith,  offered  and  answered.  Offered, 
not  by  impulses  and  imaginations,  but  with  a 
rational,  confiding  trust  in  God ;  answered,  not 
in  emotions  and  imaginings,  and  strange  voices, 
but  in  veritable  and  saving  communications 
from  God,  by  means  of  his  Spirit. 


CHAPTEK  X. 

The  Conduct  of  a  Prayer-Meeting. 

We  pass  now  to  some  considerations  respect- 
ing the  best  methods  of  conducting  a  Prayer- 
Meeting. 

Although  I  have  found  so  many  things  to 
say  before  coming  to  this  point,  yet  1  am  free  to 
admit,  that  a  leading  object  in  writing  this  es- 
say was  to  induce  a  strict  and  honest  inquiry 
into  the  common  faults  noticeable  in  these 
meetings,  together  with  an  earnest  and  deter- 
mined effort  at  amendment.  The  right  regu- 
lation of  social  meetings  for  prayer  is  a  great 
business.  It  is  like  oiling  the  bearings  of  heavy 
machinery.  It  is  like  good  type,  and  a  power 
press,  to  the  art  of  printing. 

If  prayer-meetings  are  useful  at  all,  then 


46 

they  are  more  or  less  useful  according  as  they 
are  well  or  ill  conducted.  There  is  no  magic 
charm  in  the  mere  name  of  prayer-meeting. 

If  any  are  pleased  to  make  light  of  our 
views,  by  calling  them  the  advocacy  of  relig- 
ious machinery,  we  are  not  careful  to  deny  the 
charge,  as  a  fact,  though  we  repel  the  insinua- 
tion of  wrong,  as  unfounded. 

Religious  meetings  have  often,  no  doubt, 
been  injudiciously  managed,  by  what  has  been 
familiary  Icalled  machinery ;  and  so  too,  they 
have  been  badly  managed  by  other  means — BO 
that  such  a  fact  decides  nothing. 

Whatever  is  to  be  done  in  things  material  or 
spiritual,  machinery  of  some  sort,  is  necessary 
to  the  doing  of  it.  God  always  employs  it  in 
carrying  on  his  works.  "What  wonderful  prin- 
ciples are  employed  in  the  motions  of  the  hea- 
vens, and  how  nicely  are  they  adjusted  in  their 
application.  Consider  the  agencies  concerned 
in  the  rearing  of  a  plant,  or  the  formation  of 
an  insect.  And  wThy  should  there  not  be  ma- 
chinery employed  in  moving  and  shaping  the 
human  mind  ?  The  human  soul  does  not  un- 
dergo transformations  by  a  mere  divine  fiat, 
like  that  which  said  "  Let  there  be  Light,  and 
there  was  Light."  Machinery  of  various  kinds 
is  to  be  employed.  To  mention  a  single  in- 
stance, in  preparing  souls  for  heaven,  the  gos- 


47 

pel  is  to  be  preached,  nor  is  it  a  matter  of  in- 
difference how  it  shall  be  preached.  God 
always  gives  the  increase,  but  he  does  not  give 
it  equally  to  every  kind  of  tillage. 

If  ministers  will  preach  the  Bible  without 
perversion,  in  ever  so  homely  or  unskilful  a 
manner,  it  will  be  likely  to  save  some;  but 
when  preached  by  Paul  or  Whitfield,  it  saves 
thousands.  So  a  company  of  pious  men,  hav- 
ing the  spirit  of  prayer  at  all,  can  hardly  manage 
a  meeting  so  poorly,  that  no  blessing  shall  be 
obtained ;  but  when  have  we  seen,  and  when 
shall  we  see,  a  prayer-meeting  so  rich  and  so 
blessed  in  its  results,  as  was  that  held  in  an 
upper  room,  by  the  disciples  of  our  Lord,  during 
the  interval  between  his  ascension  and  the  day 
of  Pentecost? 

We  do,  and  we  must,  insist  upon  it,  that 
some  methods  of  procedure  are  more  pleasing 
to  God  than  others,  and  that  an  orderly  and 
comely  meeting  will,  other  things  being  equal, 
answer  its  end  better  than  an  uncomely  and  dis- 
orderly one.  We  believe  that  some  means  are 
more  likely  to  induce  the  spirit  of  prayer  than 
others,  and,  of  consequence,  more  likely  to  ob- 
tain a  favorable  response.  We  believe  that 
here,  as  everywhere  else,  an  effort  made  for 
the  attainment  of  some  tangible  and  intelligible 
object,  is  more  likely  to  result  favorably  than 


48 

mere  beating  ol  the  air.  We  make  no  reliance 
on  what  may  be  called  machinery,  except  as 
means  to  an  end.  We  no  more  expect  to  have 
our  praying  done  in  this  way,  than  to  have  the 
fabrics  for  our  clothing,  or  implements  for  our 
household  so  produced ;  and  we  would  as  soon 
dispense  with  machinery,  in  the  one  case  as  in 
the  other.  I  have  no  great  fear  nor  favor  for 
the  term  machinery.  We  are  entirely  willing, 
in  its  stead,  to  substitute  "  mecw<s  of  grace,"  if 
any  like  the  term  better.  But  "ordinary  means 
of  grace"  we  decidedly  object  to,  until  it  can 
be  shown  that  preaching  and  praying  have  or- 
dinarily been  performed  in  the  most  effectual 
and  successful  manner. 

We  confess  that  the  term  "ordinary  means 
of  grace"  as  used  by  some  men,  and  perhaps 
we  may  say,  some  sets  of  men,  brings  too  for- 
cibly to  our  minds  the  language  of  the  poet — 

"  To  wear  out  life 

In  dropping  buckets  into  empty  wells, 
And  growing  old  in  drawing  nothing  up." 

We  are  always  afraid  of  being  misunder- 
stood, and  therefore  throw  in  a  word  of  caution 
here,  as  though  we  might  be  supposed  to  be 
recommending  some  easy  way  of  praying ; 
some  way  of  dispensing  with  carefulness  and 
earnestness  in  holy  living ;  some  labor-saving 
apparatus,  encouraging  indolence.  We  do  no 


49 

such  thing.     As  the  philosopher  said  of  old, 
"There  is  no  royal  road  to  geometry,"  so 'we 
say  in  regard  to  things  of  religion,  "There  is 
no  lazy  way  to  heaven."     We  have  not  been 
telling,  nor  meaning  to  tell,  how  good  prayer- 
meetings  may  be  had  without  warm-hearted 
Eiety,  but  how  such  piety  may  expend  itself  in 
etter-directed  and  more  successful  effort. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Topics  for  Prayer — How  Introduced. 

THE  success  and  interest  of  a  prayer-meet- 
ing will  depend  very  much  on  a  right,  and 
easy,  and  natural  introduction  of  the  various 
topics  suitable  for  prayer.  "We  have  spoken 
before  of  the  importance  of  having  the  subjects 
for  prayer  simple,  and  pointed,  and  distinct, 
and  understood. 

What  we  are  now  inquiring  after  is,  the  best 
mode  of  bringing  these  various  topics  of 
prayer  before  those  who  may  be  assembled. 

We  are  interested  to  know,  how  the  different 
topics  and  themes  and  subjects  of  prayer,  shall 
be  cognizable  by  the  brethren ;  so  that  each  mat- 
ter of  general,  or  individual  interest,  shall  fill 


50 

its  proper  place,  and  receive  its  due  degree 
of  attention. 

A  few  hints  are  all  that  will  be  necessary,  as 
a  well-understood  view  of  the  thing  to  be  done 
will  generally  suggest  the  best  way  of  doing 
that  thing,  in  the  existing  circumstances. 

It  is  very  likely  that  every  brother  going  to 
the  meeting,  with  some  one  burthen  pressing 
his  soul,  may  have  the  opportunity  of  himself 
leading  in  prayer,  and  so  of  bringing  his  own 
Burthen  before  God. 

He  can  do  the  very  thing  he  wishes  to  have 
done,  and  he  can  do  it  in  his  own  way ;  and 
he  above  all  others  is  the  man  to  do  it.  But 
no  brother  should  depend  on  the  opportunity 
of  praying  himself.  Free  conversation  should 
occupy  a  portion  of  the  time,  and  the  thoughts 
which  each  one  may  have  carried  with  him  as 
the  burthen  of  his  soul  are  the  things  about 
which  he  should  speak  in  those  intervals  al- 
lowed for  conversation.  In  this  way  a  general 
interest  may  be  created  on  the  various  points 
demanding  attention.  By  such  free  disclosures 
everything  pertaining  to  individuals  becomes 
cognizable  by  all.  Such  interchanges  of  real 
thought  are  a  thousand  times  better  than  stale 
thread-bare  exhortations,  and  mimic  preaching. 

There  may  be,  and  there  ought  to  be  made, 
such  free  and  full  disclosures,  as  shall  bring  the 


51 

brethren  acquainted  with  each  other's  state  of 
mind,  and  condition  of  life. 

Nor  do  we  forget  the  sisters — often  the  most 
steadfast  and  valued  members  of  the  Christian 
community.  "We  will  not  agitate  the  question 
whether  females  may  properly  pray  and  ex- 
hort in  promiscuous  meetings  ;  but  if  they  may 
not  publicly  speak  and  pray  in  their  own  be- 
half with  their  own  lips,  they  can  do  the  same 
thing  through  the  brethren  of  their  acquaint- 
ance. Nor  is  there  any  valid  objection  to 
their  throwing  on  the  table  written  notes  of 
request  for  prayer,  according  to  their  own  feel- 
ings, either  with  or  without  their  names.  Such 
notes  always  give  life  to  a  meeting :  they 
have  always  been  used  in  reference  to  some 
cases,  such  as  sickness  and  affliction,  and  why 
should  not  the  custom  be  so  extended  as  to  meet 
every  want  which  may  arise? 

By  means  such  as  these  all  matters  of  a  per- 
sonal nature,  may  without  difficulty  be  intro- 
duced. 

Other  matters  more  general  and  public  may 
be  propounded  by  the  chairman,  or  by  any 
brother,  or  by  a  standing  committee  for  the 
purpose,  or  in  any  way  which  shall  seem  expe- 
dient, and  which  on  trial  shall  prove  successful. 

In  all  this  there  is  nothing  extravagant,  no- 
thing difficult,  nothing  more  than  is  practiced 


52 

every  day,  in  meetings  of  far  less  interest  than 
the  prayer-meeting.  Whenever  and  wherever 
there  is  to  be  an  assemblage  of  men,  to  sing, 
or  talk,  or  play,  or  do  anything  else,  you  find 
the  programme,  informing  you  of  what  is  to  be 
done.  In  an  ordination  or  installation,  spe- 
cific prayers  are  assigned  to  particular  individ- 
uals ;  which  if  properly  performed,  relate  en- 
tirely to  one  topic,  and  that  already  known. 

In  all  such  instances  it  is  deemed  liberty 
enough  for  the  performer,  that  he  be  expected 
to  utter  the  pre-expressed  thoughts  and  desires 
of  the  congregation ;  using  for  this  purpose  his 
own  language,  and  his  own  arrangement. 

Certainly,  in  a  little  gathering  of  neighbors, 
and  brethren,  and  friends,  there  can  be  no  dif- 
ficulty in  doing  the  same  thing,  and  with  less 
of  formality  attending  the  service. 

Something  like  this  is  indispensable  to  that 
kind  of  prayer  intended  by  Christ,  when  he 
said,  u  Whatsoever  things  ye  desire  when  ye 
pray,  believe  that  ye  shall  receive  them,  and 
ye  shall  have  them."  Or  this,  "  If  two  of 
you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching  any 
thing  that  ye  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  you 
of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 

We  now  see  the  meeting  assembled.  The 
parties  are  there — differing  in  rank  and  char- 
acter, and  yet  in  love  drawing  near  to  each 


53 

other,  becoming  one  in  heart  and  one  in  speech. 
There  are  the  suppliants,  prepared  in  spirit 
with  the  matter  of  their  petitions  and  addresses, 
rea-dy  to  be  offered.  And  there,  too,  on  his 
throne  of  grace,  sits  the  great  Dispenser  of 
good  in  tlie  person  of  Christ,  uttering  those 
large  and  gracious  promises,  just  recited  from 
his  own  word.  Can  you  look  on  such  a  spec- 
tacle and  say  with  careless  indifference,  uOh  ! 
it  is  only  a  prayer-meeting,  and  therefore  it 
matters  little  by  whom  it  is  attended,  or  how  it 
is  conducted?"  "Only  a  prayer-meeting?"  and 
what  would  you  have  more  or  greater  than  a 
prayer-meeting?  Say,  rather,  u  It  is  a  prayer- 
meeting,  which  if  taken  in  its  largest  sense,  is 
the  most  solemn  and  interesting  place  this  side 
of  heaven."  'No  matter,  how  a  prayer-meeting, 
a  meeting  to  converse  with  God,  is  conducted ! 
Shall  every  point  of  etiquette  be  regarded 
when  we  meet  our  vile  and  worthless  fellow- 
mortals,  and  yet,  when  we  come  before  God 
shall  all  regard  to  decorum  be  laid  aside?  In- 
stead of  this,our  very  best  thoughts  and  feelings^ 
our  best  words,  should  be  held  in  requisition. 


54 

CHAPTEE  XII. 

The  Presiding  Member. 

IN  all  deliberative  assemblies  there  is  needed 
ahead,  or  presiding  member,  through  whom  the 
other  members  may  maintain  intercourse  with 
each  other ;  and  very  much  depends  upon  the 
manner  in  which  this  member  discharges  his 
functions.  It  is,  therefore,  proper  that  we  con- 
sider for  a  moment  the  duties  of  this  presiding 
member.  I  am  constrained  to  believe,  that 
rightly  and  skilfully  to  conduct  the  exercises  of 
a  prayer-meeting  requires  rare  qualifications  ; 
more  rare  than  is  commonly  supposed.  Even 
ministers  more  often  fail  here,  than  in  any 
other  pastoral  gift.  They  deem  the  thing  so 
plain  and  so  easy  thatt  hey  never  learn  to  do  it 
well. 

If  we  rightly  judge,  the  great  requisites  are, 
a  nice  and  quick  perception  of  times  and  cir- 
cumstances, and  a  skill  in  drawing  out  minds 
in  such  a  way  that  they  shall  not  feel  conscious 
of  any  external  influence. 

Much  is  said  about  using  freedom  in  social 
meetings,  and  all  feel  the  value  of  it ;  and  yet 


55 

this  freedom,  duly  regulated,  is  seldom  ob- 
tained. We  generally  find  formal  stiffness,  or 
wild  disorder. 

The  using  of  this  freedom  is  urged  by  argu- 
ment, and  enforced  by  exhortation.  Brethren 
are  invited,  and  coaxed,  and  scolded,  to  bring 
them  out,  but  they  will  not  show  themselves  ; 
and  with  a  little  insight  into  human  character, 
we  might  know  they  would  not.  The  human 
mind  is  not  so  moved.  A  man  may  be  driven 
to  work  with  his  hands  unwillingly,  but  never 
to  engage  in  the  work  of  mingling  hearts.  No- 
thing is  more  freezing  than  artificial  efforts,  to 
force  men  to  glow  with  emotion,  and  to  speak 
with  earnestness. 

The  thing  is  hardly  to  be  defined,  and  yet 
we  apprehend  the  great  secret  lies  in  throwing 
out  the  right  thought,  at  the  right  time,  and  in 
the  right  way,  so  that  all  shall  at  once  catch 
hold  of  it,  as  a  suggestion  of  their  own  minds, 
and  feel  an  instant  desire  to  hear  and  talk 
freely  about  it. 

A  leader  capable  of  fully  doing  this  we  may 
not  have  always  at  hand,  but  with  a  correct 
model  before  us  we  have  a  double  advantage. 
We  know  better  whom  to  select,  and  the  per- 
son selected  will  know  better  what  he  ought  to 
do.  We  can  thus  approximate  to  correctness, 
if  we  may  not  reach  it. 


56 

Of  one  thing  we  may  be  certain ;  nothing 
will  so  effectually  draw  out  and  cultivate  all 
the  talent  for  edification  that  may  be  found  in 
a  church,  as  the  skilful  conduct  of  its  social 
meetings. 

A  question  propounded  for  inquiry,  a  topic 
for  discussion,  an  incident  narrated,  a  theme 
for  prayer  proposed,  may  give  an  impulse  to  a 
meeting,  which  shall  run  through  it  and  con- 
tinue beyond  it. 

The  leader  should  feel  that  he  is  sustained 
by  the  brethren,  and  that  as  their  organ  he  has 
only  to  let  his  feelings  act,  and  to  give  free  ex- 
ercise to  good  common  sense.  He  should  not 
demean  fiimself  as  anything  more  than  an 
equal,  neither  should  he  fear  to  say  or  do  any- 
thing which  he  may  think  ought  to  be  said  or 
done.  He  should  feel  himself  easy  and  at 
home,  like  a  father  among  his  children.  It  is 
plain  from  this  sketch,  that  skill  and  tact  in  the 
conduct  of  a  prayer-meeting  is  not  to  be  at- 
tained accidentally  by  any  one,  whatever  may 
be  his  natural  talents.  It  requires  the  study  of 
men,  the  study  of  the  Bible,  familiarity  with 
God.  The  work  to  be  done  requires  not  official 
station,  but  it  does  require  official  qualifica- 
tions. 

The  attendance  of  the  pastor  should  never 
be  considered  essential  to  a  good  meeting,  but 


57 

when  he  can  attend,  his  presence  will  on  va- 
rious accounts  be  beneficial.  Aside  from  his 
better  preparedness  for  presiding  well,  he  will 
in  this  way,  form  an  acquaintance  with  the 
character  and  talents  of  his  people,  of  great 
value  in  his  intercourse  with  them,  and  one 
which  can  be  no  where  else  acquired.  No 
general  rule  will,  however,  always  apply,  except 
this,  that  the  meetings  should  be  made  useful 
and  interesting,  so  far  as  this  can  be  done. 

The  proper  gift-  of  God  bestowed  on  each 
one  should  be  turned  to  the  best  possible 
account,  whatever  that  gift  may  be. 


CHAPTER 
Manner  in  Prayer. 

BUT  while  these  things  are  so,  it  is  also  true 
that  the  less  of  form  and  rule  there  is  among 
those  who  have  assembled  for  conference  and 
prayer  the  better,  provided  there  be  no  disor- 
der, and  no  intervals  of  blank,  chilling  silence. 
An  occasional  outbreak  of  indiscretion,  even, 
is  no  way  so  bad  as  stiff,  stately,  and  cold  for- 
mality. 

In  some  respects,  the  exercises  of  a  prayer- 


58 

meeting  must  be  modified  by  the  number  and 
character  of  the  persons  present,  and  the  length 
of  time  they  can  spend  together.  "Where  only 
a  few  can  be  collected,  it  is  manifest  that  one 
individual  must  perform  what  had  better  be 
divided  among  a  number.  It  will  not  be  pos- 
sible to  give  directions  for  all  the  varying  cir- 
cumstances and  occasions  which  may  arise. 
Our  instructions  are  designed  for  meetings 
respectable  in  number  and  character,  leaving 
smaller  assemblages  to  be  regulated  as  best  they 
may  be ;  and  where  one  has  to  do  the  work  of 
many,  our  advice  to  him  is  that  he  do  one  thing 
at  a  time,  doing  that  as  though,  for  the  moment, 
it  were  his  whole  duty.  If  several  topics  must 
be  introduced  into  a  single  prayer,  they  may 
be  so  arranged  that  each  one  of  those  topics 
shall  be  presented  entire,  and  in  such  a  way 
that  all  may  know  for  what  they  are  praying 
and  for  what  they  are  giving  thanks. 

It  has  been  common  to  consider  prayer  as 
consisting  of  three  parts,  supposed  to  be  dis- 
coverable in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  These  parts 
are  adoration,  supplication,  and  confession. 
The  examples  afforded  us  in  the  Bible  teach 
that  these  parts  of  prayer  are  not  always  to  be 
used,  even  in  individual  exercises  of  devotion  ; 
and  much  less  should  they  all  be  found  in  ev- 
ery prayer  that  is  offered.  They  may  have  a 


59 

place  in  every  meeting,  but  not  in  every 
prayer.  Their  proper  place  is  in  the  introduc- 
tory and  concluding  prayers,  which  ought  by 
all  means  to  be  in  reference  to  the  meeting  it- 
self. If  they  be  otherwise,  they  must  antici- 
pate or  repeat  the  matter  of  other  prayers,  to 
the  gendering  of  confusion,  and  the  destruction 
of  interest  and  profit. 

The  introductory  and  concluding  prayers 
admit,  if  they  do  not  require,  direct  addresses 
to  God,  in  the  way  of  adoration  and  general 
thanksgiving.  They  admit  of  confession  of  sin, 
and  a  deprecation  of  its  awful  consequences. 
The  presence  and  influences  of  the  Spirit  may 
be  largely  invoked  upon  all  the  exercises  of 
the  meeting,  according  as  they  have  been  or 
are  to  be  performed. 

To  the  beginning  and  close  of  meetings,  these 
things  in  'their  general  application  most  cer- 
tainly should  be  confined. 

The  introductory  service  having  been  per- 
formed, the  other  prayers  should  be  direct  to 
the  point  in  hand,  whatever  that  may  be. 
Like  the  prayers  spoken  of  in  the  scripture, 
they  should  dispense  with  the  parade  of  intro- 
duction, or  close,  as  such ;  just  telling  the  story 
to  God  in  the  simplest  and  plainest  language, 
solemn.  q,nd  reverent,  but  not  adulatory  or 
repetitious. 


60 

We  should  not  feel  as  though  God  onr 
Father  was  to  be  propitiated  by  flatteries  and 
professions,  before  we  can  expect  a  favorable 
response.  Humility,  and  sincerity,  and  hon- 
esty, and  earnestness,  are  all  that  he  cares  to 
see  in  us.  His  mind  needs  no  preparation  to 
render  him  favorably  disposed.  The  seeming 
awe  with  which  God  is  often  approached 
argues  distrust  rather  than  faith,  and  selfishness 
rather  than  love.  Why  should  there  be  more 
solicitude  to  propitiate  our  Father  in  heaven 
than  our  father  on  earth  ?  The  idea  that  such 
a  direct  and  simple  prayer,  for  just  what  we 
want,  and  for  nothing  else,  will  seem  too  short, 
or  too  naked,  is  altogether  baseless  and  absurd. 
What  if  it  be  two  "minutes  ?  What  if  it  be 
one  minute  ?  No  matter ;  provided  the  end 
be  answered.  What  if  the  thing  we  want  lie 
all  uncovered  and  alone  before  God  and  the 
congregation?  That  is  just  as  it  should  lie. 
That  is  the  way  to  know  where  it  is  and  what 
it  is.  We  need  not  cover  it  up,  as  if  we  were 
ashamed  of  what  we  had  done. 

In  so  far  as  directness  and  explicitness  are 
concerned  in  our  manner  of  approaching  God, 
the  prayer  of  Abraham's  servant,  when  going 
to  seek  a  wife  for  Isaac,  is  an  excellent  model 
for  our  imitation  ;  indeed,  such  is  the  charac- 
ter of  almost  every  prayer  recorded  in  the  Bi- 


61 

ble.  If  thanksgiving  be  offered,  the  cause  for 
it  is  distinctly  stated  ;  if  confession  be  made, 
some  sin  is  specified ;  if  supplications  be  ut- 
tered, something  definite  and  tangible  is 
sought.  You  find  no  flourish  of  vapid,  un- 
meaning ceremony,  and  hollow  complimentary 
expression.  Just  listen  :  (Gen.  24  :  12 — 14.) 
"Oh  Lord  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  I  pray 
thee  send  me  good  speed  this  day,  and  show 
kindness  unto  my  master  Abraham.  Behold  I 
stand  here  by  the  well  of  water ;  and  the 
daughters  of  the  men  of  the.  city  come  to  draw 
water ;  and  let  it  come  to  pass  that  the  damsel 
tt>  whom  I  shall  say,  Let  down  thy  pitcher,  I 
pray  thee,  that  I  may  drink ;  and  she  shall 
say,  Drink,  and  I  will  give  thy  camels  drink 
also ;  let  the  same  be  she  that  thou  hast  ap- 
pointed for  thy  servant  Isaac ;  and  thereby 
shall  I  know  that  thou  hast  'shewed  kindness 
unto  my  master." 

"When  Daniel,  (Dan.  2 :  17, 18,)  had  a  great 
concern  on  his  hands,  in  the  matter  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream ;  how  simple  and  direct, 
was  his  manner  of  prayer.  "  Then  Daniel 
went  to  his  house,  and  made  the  thing  known 
to  Hananiah,  Mishael  and  Usariah,  his  com- 
panions ;  that  they  would  desire  mercies  of 
the  God  of  heaven,  concerning  this  secret." 
See  the  publican  come  trembling  into  the  tern- 


62 

pie,  with  down  cast  eyes  afar  off  from  the 
holy  place,  striking  his  breast  with  his  hand, 
and  now  hear  his  tremulous  voice  cry  out 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  One  such 
direct,  pointed  prayer,  is  worth  an  hundred,  or 
a  thousand,  of  those  soulless  performances, 
which  we  sometimes  hear  and  sometimes  utter ; 
filled  up,  with  every  thing,  and  really  meaning 
nothing,  serving  no  purpose,  but  to  try  the 
patience  of  the  assembly. 

It  will  tend  greatly  to  the  concentration  of 
thought  and  desire,  if  the  subject  of  each 
prayer  be  announced,  before  the  prayer  is 
offered.  And  if  in  a  brief  address,  the  subject 
matter  be  expounded,  it  will  be  all  the  better. 
-All  this,  will  in  its  tendency  make  us  feel,  that 
we  have  an  understood  object  in  coming  to 
God ;  and  a  corresponding  expected  result  to 
encourage  us.  We  shall  feel,  as  though  we 
have  something  to  do,  and  we  shall  do  it  with 
good  will ;  and  whatever  is  so  done,  is  likely 
to  succeed.  The  economy  in  time,  by  such  an 
arrangement,  is  also^  immense.  No  one,  who 
has  not  seen  things  done  in  this  way,  will  have 
any  idea  of  the  number  of  prayers,  and  other 
separate  services,  which  can  be  brought  within 
a  single  hour ;  and  all  without  any  hurry  or 
confusion.  Just  have  the  motto,  "  one  thing 
at  a  time"  before  your  eyes,  and  you  will  have 


63 

time  enough  for  every  thing,  that  ought  to  be 
done. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  short  exer- 
cises, and  especially  short  prayers,  in  social 
meetings ;  but  hitherto  with  but  little  effect, 
Nor  is  it  likely  there  will  be  any  essential  and 
permanent  reformation,  while  it  is  thought  al- 
lowable to  jumble  every  thing  into  a  single 
prayer. 

While  miscellaneous  praying  is  practised, 
the  same  things  will,  many  of  them,  be  repeat- 
ed by  every  one  who  leads  in  devotion  ;  a 
great  many  senseless  expressions,  will  be  in- 
troduced, to  supply  the  lack  of  thought,  and 
a  so  called  prayer  of  fifteen  minutes,  will  be 
spun  out  of  nothing,  and  end  in  nothing.  You 
may  according  to  the  proverb,  as  well  wait  for 
u  the  river  to  run  by,"  as  expect  a  short  per- 
formance, from  the  man  who  has  nothing  in 
particular  that  he  feels,  and  nothing  in  parti- 
cular to  say.  He  takes  no  note  of  progress, 
either  from  the  amount  of  thought  uttered,  or 
from  the  flight  of  time ;  if  he  have  any  guide, 
it  is  found  in  the  exhaustion  of  his  physical 
strength,  or  the  restlessness  of  the  company. 
Speak  to  such  an*  one  about  brevity,  and  he 
will  think  you  are  commending  him  for  prac- 
tising it. 

If  the  proposed  change  in  conducting  prayer 


64 

meetings,  can  be  thoroughly  effected;  there 
will  be  no  sense  of  tediousness,  and  no  oc- 
casion of  protracting  a  meeting,  to  an  unrea- 
sonable length. 

This  definiteness,  and  singleness  of  aim,  will 
rise  in  importance  before  our  minds,  if  we  re- 
cur to  what  has  already  been  said,  respecting 
unity  of  heart,  in  all  social  approaches  to  God. 
At  the  expense,  almost  of  repetition,  I  must 
here  assert  the  great  truth ;  that  in  no  other 
way,  can  we  gain  the  aids  of  our  social  feel- 
ings, in  moving  and  shaping  our  own  minds, 
or  in  meeting  those  peculiar  promises  of  God, 
made  to  hearts  that  are  agreed  in  asking. 
It  is  mockery,  to  talk  about  agreement  in 
prayer,  where  fifty,  or  a  hundred  things,  how- 
ever good  in  themselves,  are  jumbled  together, 
without  any  order ;  being  not  only  unknown 
to  the  hearers,  but  as  is  often  the  case,  unpre- 
meditated, by  the  speaker  himself.  Christ 
never  meant  such  unpremeditated,  multifa- 
rious, miscellaneous  praying ;  when  he  said, 
'If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth,  as  touching 
anthing  ye  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them, 
of  your  Father  who  is  in  he&ven." 


65 

CHAPTEE  XIV. 

How  to  secure  attendance. 

I  have  another  thought  of  no  small  conse- 
quence, to  urge  on  my  readers.  We  have  al- 
ways heard  from  every  quarter,  complaints 
that  prayer-meetings  are  poorly  attended,  even 
by  Christians,  and  that  they  are  all  but  desert- 
ed, by  the  irreligious. 

This  general  backwardness,  is  an  evil  of  no 
small  magnitude ;  and  one  for  which  an  ade- 
quate remedy,  though  long  sought,  has  never 
yet  been  found.  The  case  however,  is  not  a 
hopeless  one.  Just  let  every  brother,  freely 
speak  out  what  he  thinks,  and  what  he  feels  ; 
let  brief  direct  prayers  be  offered  in  singleness 
of  heart,  for  one  object  at  one  time  ;  let  there 
be  brevity,  and  variety,  and  unity,  and  ear- 
nestness, flowing  from  deep  piety ;  and  then 
note  the  result.  We  are  much  mistaken,  if  in 
this  way,  meetings  for  prayer,  may  not  be  as 
interesting  as  those  for  preaching  ;  and  if  the 
young  as  well  as  the  old,  the  irreligious,  as 
well  as  the  religious,  will  not  be  found  eager, 
to  press  into  them. 

There  may  be  those,  who  are  incredulous, 


66 

and  who  say,  that  such  a  state  of  things  cannot 
in  ordinary  cases,  be  brought  about.  As  the 
objection  is  one  purely  practical,  and  only  to 
be  obviated  by  manifest  failure,  after  full  and 
fair  trial ;  I  say  put  it  to  the  test,  rather  than 
talk  against  it.  Make  an  honest,  full,  and 
faithful  trial,  and  then  say  what  can,  and  what 
cannot  be  done.  You  will  have  difficulties, 
but  my  word  for  it,  you  will  not  after  such  a 
trial  tell  us,  that  no  such  thing  is  possible,  as 
a  "  Reformed  Prayer-meeting"  But  if  you 
will  not  make  the  effort,  do  not  wonder  if 
the  influences  of  the  Spirit  shall  be  withheld, 
and  zeal  shall  decline,  and  iniquity  shall 
abound,  and  the  ways  of  Zion  shall  rnourn,  be- 
cause few  come  to  her  solemn  feasts.  One 
brother  cannot  effect  a  general  reform  in  any 
church,  but  all  the  brethren  can ;  and  there- 
fore let  every  brother  feel,  that  upon  himself 
rests  the  responsibility." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Specific  faults  in  Prayer. 

To  render  what  I  have  written,  more  intelli- 
gible, and  to  imprint  it  more  strongly  on  the 


67 

memory,  and  the  feelings ;  I  shall  point  out  some 
specific  faults,  which  are  noticeable  in  public 
prayers.  I  am  sensible  of  the  delicacy  of  the 
undertaking  as  tending  to  hold  up  individuals 
in  an  unfavorable  light,  possibly  to  expose 
them  to  ridicule.  But  if  I  fail  in  drawing  my 
pictures  so  that  they  shall  be  recognized,  then 
of  course  no  stigma  is  fastened  on  any  one ; 
and  if  I  succeed,  then  the  fault  is  in  the  original 
and  not  in  the  portrait.  I  have  fixed  no  mark 
of  disrespect  on  any  one,  but  only  revealed  it. 

I  mean  no  personalities  ;  my  object  is  not  to 
inflict  pain  or  disgrace,  but  merely  to  point  out 
faults,  in  such  a  way,  that  they  may  be  seen 
and  avoided.  I  do  not  speak  now  of  the  length 
o±  prayers,  nor  of  confused  order,  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  material,  or  of  the  multitude  of 
topics  introduced,  but  of  style  and  manner. 

Perhaps  the  quintessence  of  what  I  have  to 
say,  may  be  summed  up  in  this ;  that  the  per- 
former is  liable  to  think  more  of  those  who 
may  be  present  as  hearers,  than  of  God  to 
whom  his  prayer  is,  or  ought  to  be  addressed, 

I  begin  with  the  HISTORIC  PBAYEK,  which  is 
by  no  means  uncommon. 

There  is  no  objection,  to  some  simple  allu- 
sion, to  well  known  facts  ;  as  a  means  of  bring- 
ing God,  more  distinctly  and  vividly  before  the 
mind,  and  thus  of  raising  it,  to  a  higher  tone 


68 

of  devotion.  But  we  have  all  heard  prayers, 
which  were  more  like  repeating  history  than 
addressing  God.  There  was  nothing  of  prayer 
left  but  the  name.  Perhaps  there  was  some 
sentimental  moralizing,  on  passing  or  past 
events ;  but  no  confession,  thanksgiving,  or 
supplication  to  God  as  the  dispenser  of  good. 
These  recitations,  may  have  been  a  summary 
of  church  history,  general  or  particular;  a 
piece  of  auto-biography ;  or  the  history  of  our 
country,  or  an  account  of  a  hundred  other 
things,  which  in  such  a  form  have  no  place  in 
prayer,  certainly  not  in  the  social  prayer. 
They  were  uttered  to  men,  not  God. 

The  Didactic  or  Doctrinal  prayer ;  is  another 
common  and  erroneous  form.  Some  portion  of 
theological  truth  before  the  mind,  helps  the 
soul  to  conceive  of  its  own  relations  to  ^  its 
Creator  and  Redeemer.  But  this  is  a  very  dif- 
ferent thing,  from  dealing  out  a  whole  system 
of  divinity,  for  the  instruction  and  edification 
of  the  hearers. 

Instead  of  a  prayer  we  now  have  a  lecture, 
so  out  of  place,  that  it  neither  pleases  or  edifies 
us.  The  time  is  worse  than  wasted. 

SUGGESTIVE  and  ARGUMENTATIVE  prayers  are 
not  uncommon.  These  two  qualities  though 
not  the  same  are  often  in  different  degrees, 
mingled  together.  One  will  suggest  thoughts 


69 

and  considerations  to  God,  as  though  they 
must  be  new  to  him,  and  as  if  they  must  act 
with  him  as  a  motive  for  granting  favors ; 
while  another  pleads  and  argues,  as  if  he  would 
force  conviction  on  the  mind  of  God,  that  he 
ought  to  do  the  thing  sought. 

§uch  prayer,  must  be  displeasing  as  wanting 
in  humility,  reverence  and  earnestness  of  de- 
sire. Such  persons  press  obligation  on  God, 
rather  than  implore  his  grace.  He  needs  no 
such  means  of  convincing  or  moving  him.  He 
had  rather  see  the  broken  and  contrite  heart, 
pouring  out  its  strong  desires. 

Some  offer,  what  may  be  called  a  Meditative 
Prayer.  In  a  prayer  of  this  sort,  topics  of 
thought  and  reflection,  are  brought  forward ; 
such  as  perhaps,  in  some  indirect  way,  relate 
to  God ;  but  which  proceed  from  no  particular 
desire,  and  aim  at  no  result. 

We  are  treated  with  familiar  meditations  on 
the  character  and  attributes  of  Jehovah ;  on 
his  works  of  creation,  and  providence  and 
grace  ;  on  the  beauties  of  nature  in  their  varied 
changes  and  departments ;  on  the  creation  and 
fall  of  man ;  on  his  recovery  by  the  gospel. 
Such  a  performance,  may  claim  to  be  made  up 
of  pious  reflections  upon  all  sorts  of  things ; 
but  it  is  not  in  reality  a  prayer  to  God.  It 
may  begin  any  where,  and  be  prolonged  with- 


-70 

out  end.  If  the  hearers  are  amused,  they  are 
not  profited. 

I  speak  next  of  the  PREACHING  PRAYER.  It 
is  all,  or  nearly  all,  made  up  ot  argument  and 
exhortation 5  on  points  of  doctrine  or  duty$ 
really  meant  for  the  hearers,  though  in  form 
addressed  to  God ;  and  accompanied  it  may 
be  with  a  continued  invocation  of  the  divine 
name.  Sometimes,  God  is  told  how  dreadfully 
wicked  men  are,  and  how  prone  to  harden  their 
hearts,  and  how  dreadful  it  will  be  for  them  to 
perish  from  under  the  gospel,  and  how  free 
salvation  is,  and  how  easy  it  is  for  them  to 
corne  to  Christ ;  and  much  more  of  this  sort* 
Then  you  have  requests  made,  that  they  may 
look  at  this,  that,  and  the  other  consideration^ 
and  repent,  and  believe  in  Christj  and  all  in  a 
way  which  no  one  would  think  of  employing, 
if  praying  only  to  God  himself.  Now  there  is 
to  say  the  least,  a  degree  of  impiety  in  thus 
preaching  to  sinners,  arid  calling  it  praying. 

I  have  now  to  speak  of  what  may  be  called 
eloquent  or  poetic  prayers.  The  same  objec- 
tion, lies  against  both  these  faults  in  prayer, 
viz :  they  aim  at  effect,  by  means  of  ornament 
and  beauty  of  language.  They  are  calculated, 
rather  to  be  admired  and  applauded  by  shallow 
thinkers,  than  to  have  power  with  God.  Poe-^ 
tic  flowers  and  figures,  and  nicety  of  diction, 


71 

are  not  the  natural  language  of  the  heart,  cer- 
tainly not  of  most  hearts  ;  yea,  we  think  they 
are  not  the  natural  language  of  any  heart, 
when  deeply  solemn  and  awe  struck,  with  a 
sense  of  a  present  Jehovah.  It  is  plain,  that  a 
prayer  offered  in  a  public  assembly,  fails  of  its 
end ;  if  the  language  used,  be  such,  that  it  can- 
not readily  become  a  channel  of  thought,  and 
feeling,  for  those  of  whom  that  assembly  is 
composed. 

The  last  specimen  of  faulty  prayer,  which 
I  shall  introduce,  is  that  of  EXPERIMENTAL 
PRAYER.  Christian  experience,  may  be  con- 
sidered entire,  or  in  its  parts,  but  in  prayer, 
the  detail  of  particulars  should  be  avoided,  ex- 
cept as  there  may  be  special  reason,  to  insist 
on  the  bestowment,  of  some  one  Christian 
grace,  as  humility  or  zeal,  or  penitence  for  sin. 
I  would  not  be  understood  as  objecting  to  any 
thing,  w^hich  is  expressive  of  the  natural  de- 
sires of  the  soul ;  but  only  to  that  kind  of  par- 
ticularity, which  must  proceed  from  the  head, 
rather  than  the  heart. 

It  is  the  same  with  Christian  experience,  as 
with  the  health  of  the  body.  The  common 
and  natural  method  of  praying  for  a  sick  man, 
is  that  his  health  may  be  restored,  without 
particular  reference  to  the  nature,  or  location 
of  Lis  disease.  But  if  a  limb  is  to  be  ampu- 


72 

tated,  or  tumour  extracted,  or  if  the  brain  is 
diseased,  the  prayer  will  naturally  become 
more  particular,  and  the  malady,  will  be  dis- 
tinctly pointed  out. 

As  now,  every  man  would  be  ashamed,  in 
praying  for  the  restoration,  or  continuance  of 
health,  to  specify  his  hands  and  feet,  and  his 
sight,  and  hearing,  and  smelling,  and  tasting, 
his  digestive  organs,  his  skin  and  bones,  and 
blood,  and  every  thing ;  so  let  every  one  in 
praying  for  the  completion  of  Christian  charac- 
ter, avoid  naming  pride,  and  sensuousuess,  and 
avarice,  and  indolence,  and  passion,  and  all  the 
minutia,  of  which  a  complete  Christian  charac- 
ter is  made  up.  In  as  far  as  these  things  are  the 
results  of  divine  grace,  and  as  the  need  of  them 
is  felt,  it  is  most  certainly  proper  to  pray  for 
them,  and  we  here  find  the  reason,  for  reject- 
ing an  enumeration  of  the  whole  catalogue. 

Are  any  now  ready  to  ask,  "  What  have  we 
left  of  manner,  or  language,  out  of  which  to 
form  the  exterior  of  our  prayers,  after  such 
large  deductions  from  those  forms  of  devotion, 
which  we  have  always  been  accustomed  to  hear 
and  to  utter"  ? 

We  answer,  every  thing,  by  which  the  heart 
lifts  up  its  voice.  We  have  left  to  us,  the  en- 
tire language  of  intellect,  and  feeling ;  all  the 
material  for  appropriate  approach  to  God, 


90 

"We  have  nothing  to  hinder  us,  from  drawing' 
near  to  him,  in  simplicity  and  godly  sincerity  ^ 
for  every  legitimate  and  proper  end.  All 
these  things,  which  we  may  dread  to  lose,  have 
never  added  anything  to  our  prayers ;  they 
have  been  but  so  many  excreseencies,  and  de- 
formities. Let  us  prune  them  away,  and  wei 
shall  have  altogether  more  of  wThat  God  re- 
gards as  prayer,  when  we  come  together  into 
one  place.  Again  we  say,  do  not  decide  that 
no  improvement  is  possible,  till  you  have  fair- 
ly made  a  trial  of  what  is  proposed. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
A  Prayer-meeting  described. 

I  am  aware^  that  I  may  be  thought  repetiti 
ous,  but  I  am  not  only  anxious  to  be  under 
stood,  clearly  and  distinctly;  I  wish  also  to 
present  the  same  thoughts,  from  different  points 
of  observation,  that  their  use  and  force,  may 
thus  be  more  fully  realized*  And  although 
averse  to  pattern  meetings  altogether^  so  that  I 
would  give  no  description,  to "  be  servilely 
copied  out ;  yet  I  think  it  not  amiss  to  illus- 
trate by  a  single  example,  my  ideas  of  what  a 
prayer-meeting  should  be. 


Whether  the  minister  be  expected  or  not, 
there  should  be  no  waiting.  A  dead  silence, 
for  some  minutes,  is  chilling  in  its  influence ; 
and  miscellaneous,  trifling  conversation  is  still 
worse.  In  either  case,  the  brethren  and  sisters, 
are  liable  before  the  meeting  begins,  to  forget 
that  they  have  come  together  to  pray  to  God. 

It  will  be  found  a  matter  of  no  small  conse- 
quence ;  that  those  who  first  come  should  take 
the  forward  seats,  without  reference  to  age  or 
rank ;  and  that  others  as  they  come  in,  should 
sit  next  them.  Thus  will  the  meeting  be  com- 
pact, whether  more  or  fewer  be  present ;  and 
those  coming  in  later,  will  neither  have  to 
create  disturbance  by  passing  others,  or  be 
kept  at  an  inconvenient  distance.  Such  is  the 
influence  of  proximity,  on  our  feelings,  that  it 
is  scarcely  possible  to  have  a  spirited  and 
moving  meeting,  while  those  present  are  scat- 
tered, one  or  two  in  a  place,  over  a  large  room. 
Let  no  one  then  say,  we  are  trifling ;  while  we 
insist  on  such  compactness,  that  hearts  shall 
not  be  frozen  by  distance.  Nothing  which 
helps  to  give  interest  and  influence  to  a  prayer- 
meeting,  is  a  trifle.  Getting  into  the  same 
room,  is  not  necessarily,  "  coming  together  in 
oneplace,"  as  the  scripture  hath  said. 

W  ithout  waiting  for  a  minister,  or  deacon, 
or  elder,  or  moderator ;  some  one  may  strike  a 


75 

verse  of  a  familiar  hymn,  or  make  a  few  brief 
remarks,  or  propose  prayer.  This  can  be  done, 
while  the  number  is  small.  This  freedom,  need 
not  be  superceded  by  the  coming  in  of  the 
pastor,  or  any  officer  of  the  church ;  though 
very  likely  it  may  be  somewhat  modified,  by 
such  a  circumstance.  Some  brother  having  a 
hymn  that  harmonizes  with  the  state  of  his 
mind,  now  proposes  taat  it  be  sung.  Another 
suggests  a  passage  of  scripture,  which  he  deems 
appropriate,  whether  he  be,  or  be  not,  the 
leader  of  the  meeting- 
Prayer,  and  exhortation,  and  singing,  and 
reading  short  passages  from  the  bible  or  other 
books,  may  with  advantage  be  sometimes 
spontaneous ;  and  at  other  times  by  the  leader 
or  at  his  request. 

Requests  for  prayers,  whether,  oral  or  writ- 
ten ;  local,  personal,  or  general ;  may  with  very 
considerable  latitude,  be  safely  admitted.  A 
brother  may  say,  "  I  have  met  with  unexpected 
and  heavy  reverses,  and  I  beg  your  prayers, 
that  I  may  be  enabled  to  bear  them  as  a  Chris- 
tian, and  that  I  may  pass  through  my  trials, 
without  dishonoring  religion. 

Another  says,  "  my  wife,  or  my  child  is  sick, 
and  we  should  prize  a  remembrance  in  the 
prayers,  of  the  evening.  Another  says,  *c  my 
neighbor  is  deeply  afflicted,  and  he  has  not  the 


EdiisDlation  of  religion ;  will  you  join  ine  ill 
praying  that  his  heart  may  be  turned  to  God 
for  support  ?" 

Another  still  says,  ""We  haye  good  news 
from  our  son  abroad,  and  trust  he,  has  found 
the  Saviour,  will  you  unite  with  us  in  praising 
God  ?"  Another,  "  My  wife  and  myself,  de- 
sire your  prayers,  in  behalf  of  our  children, 
some  of  them  are  in  an  anxious  state  of  mind^ 
%e  feel  their  condition  to  be  critical,  and  desire 
to  be  guided  aright  in  dealing  with  them,  and 
that  God  would  renew  their  hearts."  A  brother 
now  rises,  and  says,  "  Let  us  have  one  prayer, 
Entirely  for  our  minister.  He  is  a  man,  and  feels 
human  frailties.  His  labors  are  arduous,  his 
reponsibilities  are  vast,  and  he  is  often  readyto 
faint;  "We  cannot  expect  him  to  profit  us,  unless 
we  pray  for  him.  He  greatly  values  the  pray- 
ers of  his  people.  We  will  not  make  our 
prayers,  the  medium  of  expressing  sour  and 
censorious  feelings,  nor  yet  of  fulsome  adula- 
tion. We  do  not  wish,  to  be  lugging  him  into 
every  prayer,  as  a  dead  formality,  but  we 
shall  be  wanting  in  our  duty  to  him,  and  to 
ourselves,  and  to  God ;  if  we  do  not  appropriate  1 
one  short,  but  earnest  pr  ayer,  for  his  especial  I 
benefit."  Another  says,  "  Let  us  pray  for  our  ' 
Country,"  another,  "  for  the  world." 


77 

Thus  as  the  time  and  occasion  permit,  the 
hour  is  all  occupied,  with  brief  and  pertinent 
exercises.  In  the  carrying  on  of  such  a  meet- 
ing, there  can  be  great  freedom,  and  great  va- 
riety of  exercises,  without  any  breach  of  order 
or  decorum- 

I  would  respect  the  well  mean  endeavors 
of  good  men,  however  injudicious  they  may 
be ;  but  for  the  cause  of  truth  I  cannot  refrain 
from  requesting  my  readers,  to  compare  such 
a  meeting  as  now.  described,  with  one,  where 
twenty  or  thirty  persons,  are  scattered  over 
every  part  of  a  room,  that  will  hold  three 
hundred ;  where  the  people  wait  fifteen  min- 
utes for  a  minister,  or  elder,  or  deacon ;  where 
every  meeting  begins  and  ends  in  the  same 
way;  being  made  up  of  a  long  chapter, 
three  long  hyms,  three  prayers  of  fifteen  minu- 
tes each ;  two  or  three  exhortations,  repeated 
for  the  hundredth  time.  Which  will  you  pre- 
fer ?  Which  will  God  most  delight  in  ?  Am 
I  then  unreasonable,  in  using  an  effort  at  re- 
y  in  our  frayer-meetings? 


78 


CHAPTEE  XVH. 

Monthly  Concert  of  Prayer  for  ike  Conversion 
of  the  Warld. 

The  following  remarks  on  the  Monthly  Con- 
cert have  mostly  appeared  in  another  form. 
They  are  inserted  as  an  appropriate  part  of  this 
MANUAL,  for  which  they  were  originally  de- 
signed : — 

On  the  first  Monday  evening  of  the  first 
month  in  the  year,  I  had  calculated  on  meeting 
my  brethren,  to  pray  for  the  coming  of  Christ's 
kingdom  in  the  world ;  but  circumstances  de- 
taining me  at  home,  I  felt  constrained,  in  place 
of  attending  a  public  meeting,  to  write  out 
some  of  my  long-cherished  thoughts  respecting 
Concerts  of  Prayer  in  general,  and  especially 
respecting  what  is  now  familiarly  called  the 
•"  Monthly  Concert  of  Prayer  for  Missions." 

The  Monthly  Concert  in  its  origin,  was  \ 
adopted  for  a  specific  purpose.  "When  the  first 
Baptist  missionaries  went  to  India,  they  said  to 
their  brethren  who  staid  at  home,  "We  are 
going  down  into  the  cave,  and  do  you  take  care 
and  hold  on  upon  the  rope"  In  carrying  out 
this  significant  emblem,  they  mutually  agreed 


79 

to  observe  a  concert  of  prayer  for  success  in 
this  then  novel  undertaking.  The  idea  was, 
that  at  or  near  the  same  time  they  should  think 
of  each  other,  though  a  hemisphere  apart,  as 
praying  to  the  same  great  and  glorious  Being, 
and  for  an  object  alike  dear  to  all  their  hearts. 

This  idea  was  so  pleasiug,  and  so  rational, 
so  calculated  to  "stir  up  prayer  and  excite  to 
hearty  effort,  that  when  other  missionaries  were 
sent  forth,  the  same  agreement  was  entered  in- 
to between  them  and  their  patrons.  The  mis- 
sionaries were  thus  assured,  that  on  the  arrival 
of  the  first  Monday  in  each  mionth,  they  should 
have  special  and  personal  remembrance  in  the 
prayers  of  their  brethren  and  sisters  at  home ; 
while  they  in  turn  would  reciprocate  the  act 
and  send  up  their  own  prayers  in  concert ;  in 
order  that  all  might  mingle  together  as  a  cloud 
of  incense  before  the  eternal  throne. 

But  since  this  concert  was  thus  agreed  upon, 
great  changes  have  come  over  the  face  of  the 
world,  and  the  work  of  missions  now  is  a  far 
different  thing  from  what  it  was  forty  years 
ago.  There  can  no  longer  be  that  reciprocity 
of  personal  feeling  and  interest  between  the 
missionaries  and  the  churches,  which  at  first 
was  the  great  moving  spring  to  action  in  these 
agreements.  Whatever  may  be  true  in  regard 
to  single  churches  aud  small  sections  of  coun- 


80 

try,  from  which  some  of  their  own  number 
may  have  gone  forth  as  missionaries,  it  is 
manifest  that  as  respects  the  churches  at  large, 
the  very  names  of  foreign  missionaries  are, 
quite  unknown  to  them.  The  majority  of  the 
present  generation  have  grown  into  active  life, 
since  some  of  the  missionaries  have  been  in  the 
field  ;  and  the  younger  missionaries  cannot  be 
personally  known  to  one  *in  ten  thousand  of 
those  who  are  expected  to  contribute  to  their 
support  and  to  pray  for  their  success.  To  the 
hundreds  who  have  gone  from  our  own  shores 
must  be  added  a  multitude  of  others,  who 
are  converts  from  Paganism,  orf  rom  a  Chris- 
tianity so  corrupted  jis  to  be  little  better.  The 
localities  also  stretch  around  the  globe.  We 
shall  therefore  greatly  misjudge  in  reference  to 
the  moving  springs  of  the  human  mind  ;  if  we 
make  much  account  of  personal  sympathies, 
in  giving  interest  and  effect  to  the  monthly 
concert. 

The  same  facts  also  establish  the  futility  of 
a  practice,  which,  in  the  early  days  of  mis- 
sions, had  great  power.  I  refer  to  the  extend- 
ed communication  at  each  concert,  of  intelli- 
gence from  missionaries  and  stations.  This  was 
then  like  the  reception  of  letters  by  the  family 
circle,  from  children  and  brothers  and  sisters 
abroad.  At  times  such  intelligence  has  been 


81 

electrifying.  It  made  us  acquainted  with  the 
condition  of  dear  brethren  and  friends,  whose 
feelings  and  interest  were  identified  with  our 
own.  But  now  that  the  missionary  field  has 
become  so  extended,  the  day  has  gone  by  for 
taking  advantage  of  any  such  general  state- 
ments as  can  be  made  respecting  it,  during  the 
brief  hour  allotted  to  a  single  meeting.  We 
cannot  keep  ourselves  minutely  informed  re- 
specting our  missionaries  and  their  work,  even 
by  reading  ;  and  how  can  we  expect  to  do  it, 
by  any  statements  for  which  a  few  minutes 
only  can,  be  spared  ?  The  truth  is,  in  this  day, 
missionary  intelligence  is  just  as  good  as  any 
other  intelligence  respecting  the  progress  of 
the  G  ospel,  and  no  better.  A  personal  or  local 
fact  may  be  thrilling  in  its  character  and  pow-? 
erful  in  its  results,  but  not  because  it  is  an  item 
of  missionary  intelligence  ;  it  must  be  so  be- 
cause of  its  own  intrinsic  qualities.  It  makes 
no  difference  to  us  in  our  feelings,  whether 
such  thrilling  incident  comes  to  our  notice, 
dated  Ceylon,  Chicago,  or  California. 

Another  reason  for  remodeling  our  prescrip- 
tive views  of  the  monthly  concert,  is  found  in 
the  fact  that  foreign  missions  can  now  hardly 
be  said  to  hold  even  a  prominence  among  the 
various  objects  of  Christian  enterprize.  We 
do  not  mean  tliat  the  •'  mor^l  dignity  of  the 


82 

missionary  enterprise,"  in  this  respect,  has  in 
any  degree  retrograded,  but  only  that  a  host  of 
other  moral  movements  have  sprung  up  around 
it,  some  of  them  doubtless  its  own  offspring. 
For  example,  no  rational  man  can  look  on  the 
map  of  these  United  States,  extending  now 
literally  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  offering  to 
our  seamen  a  "  coasting  voyage"  longer  than 
any  other  sea  voyage  they  can  ever  make,  and 
say  that  foreign  missions,  are  not  equalled  in 
rank  and  consequence  by  what  are  technically 
called  home  missions.  I  need  not  go  into  fur- 
ther specifications  of  what  is  familiar  to  every 
mind.  I  only  wish  to  show  that  in  the  multi- 
plication of  enterprises,  kindred  in  design  to 
foreign  missions,  we  find  an  overpowering  ar- 
gument for  remodeling  the  original  design  of 
the  monthly  concert. 

As  a  first  thing,  the  concert  must  have  a 
wider  range.  If  we  do  not  give  a  wide  and 
general  scope  to  its  topics,  we  must  do  one  of 
two  other  things,  either  of  which  is  too  prepos- 
terous to  find  an  advocate.  We  must  either 
give  to  foreign  missions  the  exclusive  benefits 
of  concerted  prayer;  not  even  attempting  in 
this  way  to  pray  for  anv  of  those  things  equal- 
ly demanding  our  prayers ;  or  we  must  have  a 
separate  season  of  concert  for  every  object 
claiming  our  attention.  We  have  then  left  us 


83 

the  only  other  alternative,  a  concert  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  world. 

This  term,  '•  the  conversion  of  the  world," 
has  indeed,  by  common  consent,  become  fami- 
liar to  our  ears,  in  connection  with  the  monthly 
concert ;  but  the  concert  itself  remains  without 
any  correspondent  change.  With  the  change 
iu  the  grounds  on  which  the  Monthly  Concert 
of  Prayer  rested,  we  are  reduced  to  the  neces- 
sity of  abandoning  it  altogether,  or  shaping  it 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  times  in  which  we  live. 
That  we  are  bound  to  pray  for  the  universal 
subjugation  of  the  world  to  the  spiritual  reign 
of  Christ,  we  know."  Thy  kingdom  come ;  thy 
will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,"  is  a 
petition  which  we  are  to  use,  in  the  spirit  of  it, 
not  monthly,  but  daily,  and  this  manifestly  is  to 
be  done  in  the  way  of  concerted,  social  prayer. 
And  that  is  the  best  method  of  carrying  out 
this  design  of  Christ,  which  in  the  aggregate, 
calls  forth  the  greatest  amount  of  earnest,  hum- 
ble, believing,  self-denying  and  self-devoting 
prayers.  If  this  great  object  may  be  promoted 
by  the  setting  apart  a  monthly  season  to  pray 
for  it  in  unison,  whether  as  a  whole  or  in  its 
details;  then  such  a  season  is  useful;  but  if 
such  a  season  shall  come  to  be  regarded  as  a 
substitute  for  all  prayer,  to  the  same  end,  then 
it  is  an  evil.  We  gain  nothing  unless  the 


spirit  of  prayer  is  increased.  Whether  the 
Monthly  Concert  of  Prayer,  as  now  generally 
observed,  is  on  the  whole  serviceable  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  in  the  world,  is,  to  say  the  least, 
questionable  ;  that  it  may  be  made  useful  there 
is  no  donbt. 

In  favor  of  the  concert  it  should  be  remark- 
ed, that  the  first  Monday  of-  each  month,  hav- 
ing already  grown  into  a  sort  of  consecrated 
season  of  prayer  for  the  heathen,  that  they  may 
be  converted  to  God,  is  a  thing  of  some  weight, 
"We  do  not  tear  down  a  building  erected  for  a 
valuable  purpose,  because,  for  some  reason, 
that  identical  purpose  cannot  be  longer  well 
pursued;  but  we  set  about  converting  the 
building  to  some  other  end  equally  useful.  So 
in  this  case,  the  fact  that  a  day  has  been  re- 
served from  other  days,  for  purposes  connected 
with  the  conversion  of  the  world,  is  not  a  thing 
lightly  to  be  thrown  away,  because  through 
change  of  circumstances,  we  cannot  use  it  ex^ 
actly  according  to  its  first  designation. 

Again,  the  coming  of  Christ's  kingdom  in 
the  world,  is  a  work  so  great,  so  multitudinous 
in  its  different  departments,  so  truly  both  the 
work  of  God  and  the  work  of  man,  that  it  de- 
mands much  time,  much  thought,  much  feel- 
ing, much  labor,  much  treasure ;  and  all  these 
things  demand  Tnuch  prayer,  The  wjiole  and 


85 


every  part,  as  occasion  and  opportunity  may 
be  offered,  should  fill  the  soul  and  lift  it  up  to 
God.  We  should  expect  great  things,  attempt 
great  things,  and  pray  for  great  things.  These 
are  the  things  which,  in  the  eyes  of  God,  give 
importance  to  this'  world.  Take  them  away, 
and  he  could  have  no  more  pleasure  in  the 
works  of  his  own  hands.  And  while  we  can- 
not, on  the  one  hand,  plead  any  Divine  com- 
mand for  this  monthly  observance,  we  cannot, 
on  the  other,  find  any  impiety  in  it ;  and  we 
seem  instinctively,  to  feel  a  persuasion  that  to 
such  an  object,  so  great  and  so  good,  we  ought 
to  give  the  beginnings  of  our  months. 

We  are  so  apt  to  shrivel  up  and  sink  down 
to  ourselves,  like  the  snail  into  his  shell,  that 
it  is  good  to  have  a  statedly  recurring  season, 
into  which  we  may  stretch  upward  and  look 
abroad,  and  think  of  something  else  beside 
those  puny  objects,  made  up  of  our  conveni- 
ences and  little  personal  delights  and  wishes, 
which  are  so  apt  to  become  the  boundaries  of 
our  actions,  and  consequently  of  our  prayers. 
And  may  not  God  himself,  have  had  some- 
thing of  this  kind  in  view,  when  he  said  by 
Isaiah  66:  23,  "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass, 
that  from  one  new  moon  to  another,  and  from 
one  Sabbath  to  another,  shall  all  flesh  come  to 
worship  before  me,  saith  the  Lord?  Who  can 
*6 


86 

point  out  any  specific  difference  between  these 
new-moon  gatherings  of  all  flesh  to  worship, 
before  the  Lord,  and  our  monthly  concerts, 
except  that  the  one  is  the  seed  hardly  begin- 
ning to  germinate,  and  the  other  is  the  same 
seed  grown  into  the  majestic  tree,  with  its 
monthly  seasons  of  fruit-bearing,  and  spreading 
forth  its  leaves  for  the  healing  of  the  nations  ? 

It  does  seem  that  if  we  could  only  get  into 
'the  spirit  of  the  thing,  these  monthly  convoca- 
tions, instead  of  making  us  feel  that  we  had 
done  up  all  our  praying  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world  in  the  beginning  of  the  month,  would 
only  make  us  feel,  that  we  had  but  begun,  and 
that  through  the  whole  month,  our  hearts 
would  be  larger  and  warmer,  and  throb  with 
stronger  pulsations. 

But  let  it  be  remembered  here,  that  God 
seems  not  to  recognize  any  difference  between 
mission  labors  and  other  labors.  "  The  field  is 
the  world  ;"  the  commanded  prayer  is,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come ;"  and  the  God-honored  result 
is,  "  All  flesh"  shall  come  to  worship  before 
the  Lord. 

While  in  the  observance  of  the  monthly 
concert,  the  great  theme  of  the  world's  con- 
version, as  a  mighty  unit,  should  not  be  lost 
sight  of ;  the  number  of  topics  bearing  upon  it 
are  almost  infinitely  diversified.  Not  only  do 


87 

they  include  every  thing  connected  with  what 
are  called,  Foreign  Missions,  such  as  the  mis- 
sionaries in  the  field,  the  supply  of  more  labor- 
ers, native  churches,  schools,  printing-presses, 
translations,  the  preparation  of  heathen  and 
deluded  minds  to  receive  the  world  of  life  ;  to- 
gether with  the  revival  of  the  mission  spirit 
and  liberality  in  giving  among  the  churches 
at  home ;  but  we  have  connected  with  the 
Monthly  Concert,  all  that  belongs  to  what  are 
called  Home  Missions. 

Home  Missions,  in  their  full  sense,  embrace 
not  only  preachers  and  preaching,  but  the  dis- 
tribution of  Bibles  and  Tracts,  and  other  reli- 
gious books,  Colporteus,  Sabbath  mission 
schools,  seminaries  of  learning,  and  other  kin- 
dred institutions,  and  all  the  destitute  portions 
of  our  own  land  ;  but  as  more  important  than 
everything  else,  the  religious  state  of  the 
churches.  On  the  spirituality,  purity,  activity 
and  liberality  of  the  churches,  everything  un- 
der God  depends,  as  to  the  future  prospects  of 
this  world. 

As  a  portion  of  Home  Missionary  labor,  we 
have  in  the  same  connection  the  reclaiming 
by  gospel  culture,  those  spots  larger  or  smaller 
now  given  up  to  wickedness.  Especially  must 
our  cities,  be  reclaimed  from  that  worst  species 
of  heathenism,  in  which  we  see  more  than 


88 

half  their  population  involved.  And  then 
again,  there  is  the  canse  of  education,  in  all  its 
branches,  the  abolition  of  war  and  slavery, 
and  despotism,  and  superstition  ;  together  with 
the  abrogation  of  struggling  sects  and  parties, 
in  the  one  church  of  God.  Human  govern- 
ments the  best  of  them,  must  be  made  over 
again ;  and  legislation  regenerated.  In  short 
we  have  but  begun  to  tell  the  things,  which 
have  to  be  gained  by  prayer  and  labor,  before 
this  world  can  be  converted  to  Christ. 

Now  while  we  should  still  hold  fast  our  at- 
tachment to  the  wholesome  proverb,  "one 
thing  at  a  time,"  we  ought  to  know,  that  all 
these  things  are  in  their  turn,  to  be  made  the 
subjects  of  brief  remark  and  special  prayer. 
How  then  can  there  be  any  want  of  employ- 
ment for  the  concert  hour  ?  And  how  can  the 
right  observance  of  this  hour,  fail  of  furnishing 
matter  of  prayer  for  every  day,  till  the  month 
shall  again  come  round?  It  was  in  view  of 
scenes  like  these,  that  the  Psalmist  uttered 
that  most  wonderful  prayer,  with  which  I  close 
this  article,  as  you  find  it  in  the  T2d  Psalm. 
a  Let  the  whole  earth  be  filled  with  his  glory, 
Amen,  and  Amen.  The  Prayers  of  David  the 
son  of  Jesse  can  grasp  no  more,"  are  ended, 
or  have  their  limit. 


89 

OHAPTEK  XYIIL 
Frequency  of  Prayer-meetings. 

The  benefits  of  Prayer-meetings  are  vitally 
affected  by  a  consideration  not  yet  attended  to. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  delicacy  and  some 
difficulty,  to  decide,  how  often  it  is  advisable 
for  the  members  of  a  church  to  meet  for  social 
prayer.  Some  in  their  zeal  may  say,  it  is  im- 
possible to  meet  too  often ;  for  as  prayer  is  the 
most  important  business  of  life,  there  is  no 
danger  of  praying  to  much.  This  is  indeed,  in 
a  qualified  sense  true,  and  yet  in  such  a  way, 
as  in  no  manner  to  decide  the  question  pro- 
posed. 

It  is  not  to  determine,  how  much  prayer  is 
desirable,  but  how  many  meetings  for  the  pur- 
pose. It  is  a  point  not  difficult  of  proof,  that 
the  frequency  of  meetings,  may  diminish  the 
amount  of  prayer. 

We  are  interested  to  know,  how  frequently 
at  what  times,  and  for  what  length  of  time, 
Christians  generally  can  leave  their  regular 
business  and  their  family  arrangements,  and 
assemble  for  social  prayer. 


90 

If  prayermee  tings  and  seasons  of  brotherly 
conference  be  holden  too  seldom,  the  members 
will  lose  the  spirit,  and  remembrance  of  them, 
and  their  habits  will  become  so  entirely  world- 
ly, that  they  will  either  neglect  attendance,  or 
come  without  preparation,  for  profiting  others, 
or  being  profited  by  them.  This,  however, 
will  depend  very  much  on  pains  taken  to  keep 
up  attention  to  the  subject,  on  the  part  of  the 
pastor  and  others.  • 

But  if  too  frequent,  these  meetings  become 
inconvenient  to  many,  interfering  with  their 
necessary  concerns,  or  leaving  them  no  time 
for  any  other  social  intercourse  ;  so  that  they 
will  be  neglected  by  many,  and  attended  by 
others  with  reluctance,  as  a  matter  of  duty. 

These  extremes  should  be  avoided,  so  that  the 
remembrance  of  one  meeting,  may  be  retained 
till  another  arrives ;  and  yet,  that  the  recur- 
rence should  not  only  be  welcome  but  waited 
for.  Something  less  than  half  the  members  of  a 
church,  it  is  believed,  ordinarily  attend  the  oc- 
casional meetings  of  the  week,  and  those  who 
do  attend,  are  generally  the  same  individuals. 
It  is  worthy  of  enquiry  now,  whether  in  some 
cases,  one  meetiug  in  a  week,  instead  of  more, 
would 'not  secure  a  better  attendance;  and 
whether  the  gain  to  those  who  now  absent 
themselves,  would  not  be  greater  than  the  loss, 


91 

if  any  loss  there  would  be ;  to  those  who  are  now 
constant  in  their  places.  This  point  has  been 
introduced,  not  with  a  view  of  finding  some 
uniform  rule ;  but  rather  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
ducing inquiry,  on  the  subject,  and  efforts 
every  where,  to  give  to  prayer-meetings,  their 
largest  and  best  influences ;  as  well  by  regula- 
ting their  frequency,  as  their  management. 
It  is  sometimes  an  excellent  plan,  to  have  a 
weekly  lecture,  introduced  by  a  short  prayer- 
meeting.  As  to  the  length  of  time  a  prayer- 
meeting  should  continue,  a  word  is  enough. 
In  all  ordinary  cases,  if  such  a  meeting  has  not 
answered  its  end,  by  continning  an  hour,  it  is 
in  vain  to  prolong  it.  If  it  has  produced  its 
end,  then  it  is  time  to  stop. 

It  is  worthy  of  remembrance  also,  that  in 
some  instances,  if  stated  public  weekly  meetings 
were  less  frequent,  there  might  be  more,  pri- 
vate neighborhood  and  family  prayer-meetings, 
some  of  the  best  meetings  in  the  world.  Pro- 
bably these  interviews,  have  a  greater  influ- 
ence, in  causing  brotherly  love  and  spiritual 
acquaintanceship,  to  abound,  than  any  other 
means,  that  have  been  employed.  They  seem 
to  render  religion  an  every  day,  home  concern. 
We  are  greatly  mistaken,  if  the  seeds  of  revi- 
val, are  not  often  sown  and  nourished  here 
unseen  by  the  world  ?  till  they  make  their  ap- 


pearance  on  some  more  public  arena.  For  in 
regard  to  revivals,  it  is  to  be  noticed,  that 
many  who  figure  in  them  largely  after  their 
developments  were  not  found  among  those  who 
mourned  and  wept,  and  labored  and  prayed  in 
Zion's  days  of  darkness. 

It  will  be  well  for  us  also  with  unprejudiced 
minds,  to  look  at  another  fact,  viz :  That  meet- 
ings are  likely  to  be  much  neglected,  in  a  time 
of  religious  declension,  and  too  much  multi- 
plied, when  the  public  mind  becomes  awaken- 
ed to  spiritual  things.  By  looking  at  such  a 
fact  before  hand,  we  may  learn  to  exercise 
proper  caution  in  the  avoidance  of  these  ex- 
tremes. 

Feeling  will  and  must  have  much  to  do  in 
these  matters,  but  Judgment  should  always 
hold  the  reins. 


93 

% 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Female  Prayer-meetings. 

I  am  strongly  tempted  to  give  the  caption, 
and  leave  the  chapter  itself  a  blank. 

For  really  what  can  be  said  about  Female 
Prayer-meetings,  but  just  this,  that  they  are 
good  and  profitable  ?  If  we  reason  about  them, 
they  stand  approved,  just  as  other  prayer- 
meetings  do,  and  if  we  appeal  to  experience, 
that  also  testifies  in  their  favor.  Argument 
and  reason  appear  to  be  all  on  one  side,  and  to 
urge  their  culture.  Nothing  appears  against 
them  but  the  too  common  consent  of  Christian 
females  to  neglect  them. 

We  hope  that  those  pious  women  who  may 
read  the  foregoing  treatise,  will  be  led  to  en- 
quire, whether  they  may  not  render  some  ser- 
vice to  the  cause  of  Christ,  by  doing  more  in 
the  way  of  meetings  among  themselves,  than 
they  have  done. 

It  may  be,  dear  sisters,  that  you  have  not  met 
at  all  for  prayer,  or  if  this  be  not  so,  it  may  be 
you  can  make  your  meetings  more  attractive 


94: 

more  instructive  and  edifying.  You  should  re- 
member that  your  sex  comprises  a  very  large 
majority  of  the  members  of  Christ's  church  that 
you  are  free  from  many  of  those  cares  and  per- 
plexities, which  often  hinder  men  from  attend- 
ance on  weekly  meetings ;  and  besides,  that 
when  by  yourselves,  you  can  properly  converse 
and  pray,  on  topics  of  vital  interest  to  reli- 
gion, which  cannot  well  come  into  a  meeting 
of  both  sexes. 

We  only  ask  you  to  seek  guidance  from 
above,  to  give  the  subject  all  proper  attention, 
and  whatever  you  think  you  can  do,  for  the 
cause  of  Christ,  to  do  it  without  delay. 


95 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

Tilings  which  destroy  Prayer-meetings. 

No  one  part  of  religions  duty,  will  ever  be 
done  alone,  or  neglected  alone.  Perfect  sym- 
metry, in  the  Christian  character  and  life,  we 
must  not  look  for,  in  this  imperfect  state ;  and 
yet,  though  its  p^rts  may  be  sadly  out  of  pro- 
portion, and  mal-formed,  character  will  always 
be  a  whole. 

Every  thing  in  religious  dnty  may  be  regard- 
ed, both  as  a  means  and  an  end.  Action  and 
re-action  are  always  to  be  found  there.  The 
same  fire  that  warms  and  vivifies,  the  closet  and 
the  family  worship,  will  also  warm  the  social 
gatherings.  The  keeping  of  the  heart  by  each 
one,  is  guarding  the  sanctuary  ;  and  so  too  neg- 
lect in  one  part,  causes  loss  and  decay  in  every 
other. 

These  things,  Christian  friends,  you  can  but 
know,  and  yet  it  may  not  be  amiss,  "to  stir  up 
your  pure  minds  by  way  of  remembrance." 

Terms  relative  to  the  heart  are  general  in 
their  significations,  and  while  they  may  be 


96 

known  and  believed,  and  even  felt  in  the  ag- 
gregate; they  may  be  strangely  overlooked 
and  neglected  in  their  parts.  A  man  for  ex- 
ample, may  be  very  careful  for  a  season  at 
least,  in  keeping  his  heart  religiously  as  he 
thinks  ;  viz.,  he  may  be  exact  in  secret  prayer 
and  punctual  in  reading  his  bible  and  attend- 
ing meetings  and  going  over  all  the  forms  of 
religious  duty,  and  perhaps  may  take  great 
pains  to  be  prepared  for  these  things,  while 
some  unthought  of  sin  is  holding  his  soul  in 
bondage.  He  may  be  harboring  feelings  of 
revenge  for  an  injury,  or  planning  a  hard  bar- 
gain, or  striving  through  envy  to  supplant  a 
rival,  or  giving  currency  to  slander,  or  laying 
the  reins  too  closely  on  his  appetites,  or  shun- 
ning some  known,  but  painful  duty,  or  doing 
a  hundred  other  things  which  the  Christian 
should  not  do. 

The  psalmist  has  set  such  evils,  in  their  true 
light  as  regards  prayer.  "  If,  says  he,  I  regard 
iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will  not  hear 
me.?'  How  easy  then  for  a  man  to  disqualify 
himself  for  secret  converse  with  God,  and  so  to 
become  a  useless  member  of  the  prayer-meeting 
and  the  church ! 

Any  thing  which  keeps  the  members  of  a 
church  from  coming  together,  with  confidence 
and  affection  unbroken,  goes,  to  break  up 


97 

the  power  of  social  prayer.  There  is  in  that 
case  no  such  thing  as  being  of  one  accord  in 
one  place,  and  of  fervent  charity  among  them- 
selves. Unkindness  and  ill  temper  in  the 
family,  a  refusal  or  neglect  of  a  needful  favor 
to  a  neighbor,  especially  in  time  of  affliction, 
unexplained  and  unsettled  differences  about 
business,  undue  officiousness  in  the  private 
concerns  of  others,  unfriendly  remarks,  disaf- 
fection with  the  minister,  and  how  many  other 
things  we  cannot  tell,  may  keep  brethren  from 
meeting  together,  or  if  they  meet,  may  keep 
them  from  gaining  any  advantage  thereby. 
And  to  all  these  things,  the. unclassified  and 
undefined  influences  of  what  we  call  worldli- 
ness  in  its  various  bearings,  and  tell  us,  whe» 
ther  there  is  no  danger  that  our  prayer-meet- 
ings may  without  our  knowledge,  become  nu- 
gatory. How  forcibly  are  we  taught,  not  only 
that  we  must  pray,  but  must  watch  and  pray  ? 
One  reason,  we  apprehend,  why  these  dan- 
gers are  not  more  readily  perceived  and 
promptly  met,  may  be  found,  in  the  general, 
confused,  and  pointless  manner  in  which  the 
exercises  of  our  prayer-meetings  are  often  cou~ 
ducted.  If  we  were  accustomed  to  see  every 
prayer,  and  exhortation,  having  an  intelligible, 
well  defined,  and  single  aim,  the  whole  life  and 
$oul  of  devotion  could  xiever  depart  without  ob- 


servation.  An  alarm  would  be  given,  and  the 
latent  cause  of  the  mischief  would  be  searched 
out. 


CHAPTER  XXI, 

Concluding  ^Remarks. 

After  reading  my  little  book,  some  will  most 
likely,  in  not  very  good  humor,  say,  "  We  can 
never  submit  to  such  sudden  and  revolutionary 
changes  as  are  here  contended  for.  If  we  at- 
tempt any  thing  of  this  sort,  we  shall  just 
break  up,  and  destroy  our  prayer-meetings  on 
the  old  and  tried  plan,  and  have  nothing  left 
in  their  place.  We  must  have  our  own  way  of 
praying,  or  we  cannot  pray  at  all,  "  We  do 
not  know  what  right  any  one  has,  to  teach  us 
what  we  shall  pray  for,  or  how  we  shall  pray, 
and  other  things  of  the  like  sort." 

Others  again  may  say,  they  find  nothing 
new.  That  they  do  not  see,  wherein  a  prayer- 
meeting  conducted  as  we  propose,  will  differ 
from  other  prayer-meetings.  u  We  do  not  ex- 
pect that  meetings  will  be  all  made  just  alike, 
rather  than  other  things,  but  we  see  nothing 
peculiar." 


To  the  first  class  of  objectors  we  only  say, 
"Keep  to  your  old  ways,  till  you  are  convinced 
there  may  be  better  ones.  The  author  would 
fee  the  last  man  to  dictate  to  you,  or  control  you 
in  any  way,  but  by  convincing  your  judge- 
ment. 

If  you  are  praying  men  at  all,  you  must  be- 
lieve the  subject  worthy  a  very  careful  and 
candid  consideration.  This  then,  I  hope  and 
trust  you  will  not  refuse,  and  to  this  I  am  will- 
ing to  leave  you.  It  is  not  to  be  expected,  that 
an  entire  and  universal,  and  immediate  change 
will  take  place.  This  is  no  reason  however, 
why  you  should  not  read,  and  consider,  and 
judge;  and  whenever  you  may  think  your 
prayer-meetings,  susceptible  of  any  improve- 
ment, let  that  improvement  be  instantly  made. 
Make  a  beginning,  even  if  it  be  a  smull  one ; 
and  others  will  naturally  follow  in  the  train. 

To  those  who  love  Zion,  and  prayer,  and 
prayer-meetings,  for  her  prosperity ;  and  yet 
find  nothing  new  in  the  present  treatise,  if 
there  are  any  such,  we  tender  our  sincere  con- 
gratulations, and  hope  they  will  be  zealous, 
and  efficient  co-laborous  in  endeavors  to  bring 
about  a  better  way  of  doing  these  things. 

We  have  not  designed  our  little  book,  as  a 
book  of  rhapsodies,  but  of  truth  ;  not  so  much 
a  recommendation,  of  prayer-meetings,  as  a 


ioo 

means  for  making  them,  recommend  them* 
selves. 

If  any  great  advances  shall  be  made  during 
the  life-time  of  the  author,  they  must  be  speedy; 
but  he  fully  believes  such  advances  will  be 
made,  and  that  a  glory  now  unknown^  shall 
hang  over  the  prayer-meeting  hall,  and  that 
heaven  and  earth,  shall  hold  more  familiar  and 
endearing  converse. 

It  is  his  desire  before  closing  his  earthly 
labors,  to  do  something,  that  may  help  forward 
the  desired  change.  Though  he  has  gained 
no  earthly  reward  for  his  labors,  he  trusts  they 
have  not  been  in  vain  in  the  Lord  ;  and  gladly 
would  he  leave  a  legacy  for  those  who  may 
survive  him,  which  shall  have  a  value,  long 
after  gold  and  silver,  and  gems,  shall  be  worth- 
less. Of  one  thing  he  is  perfectly  sure,  that 
to  whatever  degree  he  may  lend  an  influence 
in  the  reformation  of  prayer-meetings,  he  will 
to  the  same  extent  lend  an  influence  for  the 
salvation  of  the  world, 


TOPICS  OF  PRAYER. 

Some  topics  for  prayer  and  remarks  are  here  added,  as 
a  guide  to  those  who  may  desire  such  aid. 
no  harm  to  any  if  they  are  not  used,  and  the  number  we  ap- 
prehend is  small,  who  will  not  find  them  occasionally  con., 
venient.  If  made  familiar  to  the  mind  of  any  brother,  by  a 
little  sturdy,  such  a  list  of  topics,  may  prove  a  remedy  for 
that  vacurity  which  all  feel  more  orl  ess  when  speaking  in  a 
public  meeting.  No  man  has  perfect  and  constant  com- 
mand  of  his  own  thoughts,  and  few,  if  any,  are  strangers  to 
the  feeling  of  dread,  lest  an  effort  to  speak  or  pray,  prove 
an  entire  failure.  This  may  be  one  reason  of  those  long, 
prosy,  common-place  introductions  to  a  prayer,  which  are 
often  so  tedious.  It  is  something  to  have  at  hand  a  remedy 
for  so  great  an  evil. 

It  is  not  principally,  however,  as  a  remedy  for  a  barren 
state  of  mind,  that  we  introduce  this  catalogue  of  topics. 
We  think  when  the  mind  is  active  and  fertile  and  the  heart 
warm,  such  aid  will  be  more  especially  useful. 

One  may  be  called  to  lead  a  meeting,  hurried  in  from  the 
noise,  and  bustle  and  confusion  of  the  world,  when  he  hard- 
ly dare  trust  his  own  thoughts,  or  the  same  thing  may  oc-> 
cur  from  the  power  of  disease  in  deranging  the  nervous  sys- 
tem. In  such  a  ease,  the  very  idea  of  having  something  to 
fall  back  upo»,  will  give  a  man  vigor  of  his  own,  and  help 
him  to  draw  from  his  own  resources.  At  any  rate  we  think 
it  best  to  give  the  arrangements  not  claiming  for  it  any 
thing  like  completeness, 


102 


TOPICS  SUITABLE  FOR  AN  ORDINARY  GENERAL 
PRAYER-MEETING. 

ADORATION  OF  Gop.  His  greatness  ;  'majesty ;  justice ; good- 
ness ;  works;  forbearance;  bounties;  mercy,  and  grace. 

INVOCATION  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  That  his  presence  may  be  felt  j 
that  he  would  inspire  awe ;  unfold  scripture  truth ;  warm 
the  heart ;  subdue  the  soul ;  give  ready  utterance. 

CONFESSIONS  OF  SIN.  Rejection  of  God;  breach  of  a  good 
law ;  contempt  of  Christ ;  injury  to  our  fellow  men ;  de- 
serving wrath. 

THANKSGIVINGS.     God's  goodness  in  creation;  redemption 
bounties  of  Providence ;  health ;  peace ;  blessing  of  edu- 
cation ;  national  blessings ;  spread  of  the  Gospel ;  revi- 
vals, &c. 

PRAYER  FOR  THE  CHURCH,  Spirituality  of  its  members  j 
purity  of  life ;  activity ;  liberality ;  brotherly  love  j 
kindness,  &c. 

CHRISTIAN  FAMILIES.  Instruction  ;  government ;  dutifulness 
of  children  ;  parental  love  ;  conjugal  harmony ;  family 
worship ;  observance  of  sabbath ;  attendance  on  religious 
worship,  &c. 

IRRELIGIOUS  FAMILIES.  That  they  may  give  themselves  to 
reading  and  reflection  ;  may  attend  religious  meetings. 

OLD  PEOPLE,  that  they  may  retain  health  ;  activity  ;  eye- 
sight and  hearing ;  reason  and  memory ;  may  be  cared 
for  and  comforted ;  may  have  patience  ;  cheerfulness  •, 
that  they  may  be  getting  ripe  for  heaven. 

MAN  IN  MIDDLE  LIFE.    As  parents  ;  men  in  business  ;  men 


103 

men  in  influence ;  use  of  their  property ;  church  members  j 
civil  officers . 

THE  YOUNG.  That  they  may  be  considerate  ;  studious;  so- 
ber; industrious;  peaceable;  honest;  prudent ;  dutiful ; 
pious.  ^ 

THE  MINISTRY.  With  kindness  ;  with  respect ;  with  appro- 
vals ;  for  strength ;  courage  ;  wisdom  •  affections ;  com- 
munion with  God ;  sympathy  and  aid  from  the  people- 

DISABLED  AND  UNSETTLED  MINISTERS.  Comforts;  opportu- 
nities for  doing  good ;  that  they  may  not  be  forgotten  5 
may  be  resigned ;  large  heavenly  blessings. 

SABBATH  SCHOOLS  AND  OTHER  SCHOOLS.  Teachers  ;  pupils; 
progress;  piety. 

OUR  NATION. 

OUR  RULERS. 

PUOFESSIONAL  MEN. 

THE  SEASONS. 

THE  POOR.  That  they  may  be  willing  to  help  themselves  - 
may  be  assisted  and  taught  to  do  so ;  may  have  needed 
comfort ;  may  be  kept  from  envy  and  complaining  j  may 
be  laying  up  treasure  in  heaven; 

THE  RICH.  That  they  may  be  humble;  generous;  kind 
and  affable ;  grateful ;  prayerful  and  exemplary  ;  holy 
and  happy. 

THE  HEATHEN.    At  home  and  abroad. 

THE  SICK,  } 

THE  BEREAVED,         >  Generally,  or  individually. 

THE  UNFORTUNATE.  ; 

A  REVIVAL  OF  RELIGION.  This  though  embraced  in  the 
other  topics,  may  sometimes  be  made  a  distinct  subject  of 
prayers,  as  such. 


104 

Reasons  of  Prayer  for  particular  otyeds. 

When  a  day  or  part  of  a  day,  or  a  single  meeting  may  be 
'designated  for  a  particular  cause,  as  the  prevalence  of  sick- 
ness, drought,  a  destructive  fire,  or  flood,  the  low  state  of 
5religion,  or  any  thing  else  in  particular  5  the  prayers  and  re* 
marks,  should  be  restricted  mostly  to  topics  directly  related 
to  the  main  design  of  the  observance.  These  in  such  a 
case  may  be  dwelt  or  very  fully,  and  some  repetition  is  per* 
fectly  admissible. 

This  schedule  might  be  easily  enlarged,  but  this  must  be 
sufficient  for  practical  purposes.  It  is  sufficient  to  shew 
that  the  material  for  a  prayer-meeting  is  always  abundant 
&nd  available. 


INDEX. 


I.  The  value  of  Prayer-meetings.  3 

II.  Dignity  of  the  Subject      -         -         -  .     9 

III.  Things    common    to  all    Prayer — -Spiritual 

blessings— The  Purposes  of  God      *  11 

IV.  Manner  of  approaching  God  in  Prayer           -  21 

V.  Individual  Preparation  26 

VI.  Our  Social  Nature       >'        -         -         ^       ~-  27 

VII.  God  to  be  approached  with  reverence       -  34 
VIII.      A  present  God                                                    -  36 

IX.  God  will  hear  and  answer  Prayer  39 

X.  The  Conduct  of  a  Prayer-meeting         -  45 
XL       Topics  of  Prayer,  how  introduced  49 

ftH.      The  Presiding  Member  of  the  meeting           -  54 

XIII.  Manner  of  Prayer  57 

XIV.  How  t'o   secure    attendance  on    the  Prayer- 

meeting         *         :.         *         *         *         „  65 

XV.  Specific  faults  in  Prayer  66 

XVI.  A  Prayer-meeting  described         -         i  73 

XVII.  The  Monthly  Concert  of  Prayer,  for  the  con- 

conversion  of  the  World              *  78 

XVIII.  The  frequency  of  Prayer  -meetings         .         -  89 

XIX.  !Fem,ale  Prayer-meetings          ...  93 

XX.  Things  which  destroy  a  Prayer-meeting         -  95 

XXI.  Concluding  Remarks         -  93 


: 

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